The Rain
by o0One.Sky.One.Destiny0o
Summary: The team has relocated after the events that nearly tore them apart in L.A. They've started over in New Mexico picking up where they left off and fixing what went wrong. Storms bring a stranger into their life and to everyone's surprise changes everything
1. Chapter 1

Just in case you all didnt know this is my FIRST published Fan Fic. I went for Fast and the Furious simply because its a fun one and the idea popped into my head not too long ago. I really hope you enjoy it. And please, I love reviews - I want criticism so I can improve! Thanks a bunch and enjoy!!

* * *

-1-

The rain was pouring down now. In the desert, it was either dry or drenched with no in between. There was never usually a warning of whether or not it would be 50 degrees or 100 degrees on any given day. He liked it like that. Kept things interesting.

Coming from L.A. he certainly had his fill of smog, crowds, noise and sweat. New Mexico was definitely a different scene, but it was a difference he welcomed. He basically had the same gig going on – sweating to death in some dinky garage while kids paid him cash to alter their cars so he could just take more from them later – too many amateurs with rich parents willing to buy their children's love.

His thoughts were interrupted by the bell jingling above the doorway, signaling that someone had entered the store up front. He was in his office in a hallway connecting the store and garage. He stared out the large dusty window of his office and watched the storm. The sky, usually a vibrant blue, was a deep purple and dazzling pink, the clouds were dark and bruised by the amount of rain they held within them. Holes within those grey clouds let islands of light in, giving the raindrops a bright glow as they fell to the ground. Like diamonds, falling from heaven.

He heard someone clear their throat, it was a soft sweet sound, "Um, hello?"

It was a woman; the voice was pleasant, a little playful and almost musical. When there was no response for a good 30 seconds, he heard the woman shift her weight, squeaking with wet shoes against the cheap linoleum. He grumbled and stood up, poking his head out into the hallway. He looked to his left, over to the garage and did not see nor hear anyone in it, then to his right into the store, directly behind the counter, which was empty.

"Fuckin' kids." He groused, his voice, deep. He walked down the hallway a few feet and saw the girl there; half wrapped in some black, plastic type material with something perched on her hip.

He leaned against the doorjamb and cleared his throat, like the thunder outside. She whipped around, faster than he expected and held the lump on her side defensively, close to her, shielding it with her tiny tanned arms. Her grey eyes were squinted, with an angry look in them that he'd never seen anyone so small muster up. She looked ready to pounce, like a cat. Her body wasn't incredibly trim, but she looked healthy, solid. Her arms and legs looked strong without being overly muscular. He took all five feet and probably no more than three inches of her in. That's what she reminded him of – a kitten. A half drowned one at that. Her white t-shirt and jean pants were plastered to her. She was dripping everywhere.

"I'm sorry," her features softened, and she uncoiled, "You scared me." She gave him a shy smile and a gentle flip of her head to get the dripping wet hair out of her face – it was short, sticking to her neck and face, the longest layer just under her chin.  
He nodded, "Can I help you?"

"Jesus, I'm practically pissing on your floor!" She looked over herself, "You are the closest mechanic around. My car busted about four miles back and we had to walk." The bundle on her side twitched. The black thing was a raincoat, draped over only one side of her body the hood of it was over her shoulder, covering something up. From underneath, fingers pinched at the fabric and pulled it down; a perfectly dry face peeked out. It was a boy's face, round and bright, with the same golden tan as the woman holding him. His hair was bright blonde and curly, with green eyes framed by thick, dark lashes. Below the button nose was a wide, closed lip smile. He was beautiful.

The woman holding him, possibly the mom, because of the same wide eyes, heart shaped face, and skin color was definitely a mess. A third of her pant's legs were covered with the burnt orange mud of the desert floor. Her face, which was now relaxed, was flushed, and different. The eyes were large, grey, and almost glittering against her tanned skin. Her smile was reserved, but friendly. Her nose was small, and pointy, but in a good way – almost fairy like. _Tinkerbell_, he thought, _she looks like Tinkerbell – if she were caught in a rainstorm._

"You walked four miles in that?" He gestured to the typhoon happening outside.

She rolled those big beautiful eyes playfully and smiled big with her lips that were probably pinkish, but now a little blue, "The rains the rain," she sighed, "Sometimes the air is good for you." She looked back out into the storm, wistfully, enchanted. She seemed very young to be holding that boy so protectively.

"You car?" He mumbled.

She seemed to snap out of the trance she was in at the sound of his voice, she looked back at him. Now that she wasn't smiling, it was easier for him to look at her, before, he had a hard time focusing on just one aspect.

She started to explain what disaster befell her car as he looked at her more closely. Her face was bare of makeup, giving her more innocence as she stood there sopping. Those eyes, grey with flecks of gold around the pupil were animated and alert. She had high, wide cheekbones with that small nose above the unsmiling lips. While she was talking or when they were immobile, they seemed a little on the thin side, but still full enough to be attractive.

"You coulda called a tow," He said.

She bit the inside of her lip, a nervous habit, "That's if I had a cell phone."

His eyebrow rose with the unspoken question and he had a better idea why he saw the side of her that was alert, tense, and ready for a fight. She was a runner.

"Mmmhm," he cracked a half smile, "I'll send one of my employees out to tow it once I found out where the hell-,"

"Dom!" There was a shriek behind him that made Dom and the woman jump. He realized only too late that it was Mia as he watched the brown and black figure streak by him. She was in front of the woman in a moment, touching her and smiling, "Dear God, are you ok? You are absolutely soaked!"

The girls looked at each other while Mia pawed at the damp kitten while she adamantly insisted she was fine.

"Do you happen to have a bathroom I can use? My son and I need to refresh a little bit. And I could use some paper towels."

Mia smiled and scoffed, "I have some extra clothes, a hair dryer, and some towels you can use. How's the little guy?" She said as she peaked under the raincoat again, receiving a tiny giggle out of the lump that sounded like wind chimes.

"I'm fine, thank you." He smiled, and his mom removed the coat, "My mommy, she let me use her rain jacket so I wouldn't get sick. I'm dry, she is not."

Mia squealed, "He's adorable!" she ruffled the golden locks and took him from his mother, who looked slightly uncomfortable as her son was removed from her hip, but it passed quickly. "I'm Mia." She cocked her head back, "The behemoth at the door is Dom, my brother." She turned with a scolding look in her eyes, "Dom! Show her where the bathroom is while I get this guy some snacks and something to drink." She carried the boy over to the lunch counter and started settling him down.

"Now that's really ok," The woman protested, "I just need a tow and whatever is wrong with my car fixed and I'll be out of your hair."

Mia looked up, with a face full of hurt, "Nonsense! You just walked four miles in that storm out there! You are soaked and you carried your boy all the way! I bet you are starving and exhausted!" she fussed over the boy some more and made him some hot chocolate, "What are your names?"

"Mine's Luca!" The boy shouted happily. He cringed slightly and looked back at his mom apologetically, "Sorry mommy."

Looks were exchanged between Mia, Dom, and the woman. She closed her eyes and regained her composure, nibbling on her lower lip, "Don't worry Luca. I think we are ok." She smiled at her boy who started guzzling down the hot chocolate. She walked over to Dom and stuck out her hand, "That's Luca, my six year old boy wonder. That is Mia," She pointed to the counter where Mia was preparing a small feast, "You are Dom." He nodded and she looked down at herself, pulling back her hand to pull down the soaked fabric, "And I'm wet," she laughed, and stuck her hand back out, "Maria."

"Pleasure." He smiled ad took her hand, which was like a toddlers compared to his mitt. She had a strong grip for someone her size. He let go after a second or so and looked at Mia, "Boys?"

She rolled her eyes, "Garage. We escaped so we could play in the rain."

Maria noticed that she didn't look the least bit wet or out of place. Now that she really looked at Mia, she realized that Mia was ridiculously pretty and probably one of those girls who never looked like a hair was undone.

"We need a tow out on…?" He looked back at Maria for help.

"Go North on NM-50 for about 4 miles, my car is on the side of the road looking worthless and angry."

"Vince! Leon!" Mia shouted and two lanky tattooed men came running up through the hallway. They skidded to a stop at the sight of Maria. One had a full beard and a nasty scar on his arm, the other had sharper features and a trim goatee. Beardy let out a wolf whistle through his teeth as his eyes glided over the tiny, pretty, soaked woman.

"Jesus Vince," Mia growled, he smiled and lazily looked back in her direction and his jaw dropped at the sight of the kid. His eye's widened and he looked back at the woman.

She raised her hand and smiled, "Yes," she nodded, obviously not ashamed. "You better watch yourself around my kid," she now had one of her short thin fingers pointed in his direction.

Dom let out a huge guffaw and Vince let out a stream of unrecognizable profanities. Leon elbowed him, "Nice, dickweed."

"What?" Vince growled.

"On that note," Maria smiled, "Mia, may I use your bathroom?"

"Course!" She smiled, "Dom!" she hissed, "You are being rude!"

He simply lifted an eyebrow, "I'll take her." He pointed a finger at Mia, "You. Take care of the kid." His finger wiggled between Leon and Vince, "You two, we need a tow off of the 50 towards Santa Fe."

"Yessir!" They all said, even Luca.

As he turned to show Maria the bathroom and she turned to follow, Leon snapped his fingers, "Hey lady!"

"Maria, please." She smiled.

"Yeah, sorry. What kind of car we lookin' for?"

"68' Charger, gunmetal grey."

They all froze, even Vince, who had half of Mia's sandwich in his mouth, and stared at Maria.

She turned to look back at all the amazed faces, "I feel like I cursed instead of saying Amen in church. I give up," she shrugged, "What gives?"

"Nice car," Dom said. Maria felt it wash all over her and she turned around to meet his beautiful eyes. His voice was low and sensual without being theatrical. It was rough, like sand grating over your body at the beach, but still warm and soothing.

"Thanks." She managed to choke out.

His deep brown eyes detached from hers for a moment and looked past her, "Go." He said, and she heard the boys' feet scramble over the wet tile and out the door before she could ask "who?"

He watched her walk over to her son, her hips rolled unintentionally, but sexy as hell, nonetheless. She kissed her son on the head and stroked through his hair. "Mommy will be right back. Behave?" He nodded while he chewed and she whispered thanks to Mia, before turning to follow Dom.

She followed him through he doorway and into the hallway. He was so big that he basically took the entire thing up with his huge frame. Maria allowed herself a few moments to be a woman and admired him. She started from the top because she couldn't stop focusing on how large he was. His head was shaved and smooth. He had wide, muscular shoulders beneath a dirty thermal long sleeved shirt that was pushed up on his enormous forearms. His body was in a tight V coming down to a trim waist. He had simple dark jeans on that hugged his hips nicely. It also accented his rather round and muscular ass – not that Maria was looking anyways.

She snickered quietly to herself and he stopped abruptly. Maria had to jump back in order to keep from hitting him. His head barely turned on those wide shoulders and she caught a glimpse of his striking profile.

"I sneezed." She blurted out.

He turned rather quickly and got extremely close to her as she backed herself into the hallway wall. He reached to her right and his arm gently brushed hers and she was shocked by his contact, his skin was burning compared to hers.

"You're freezing." He said in the deep gravely voice.

Her teeth chattered, either from the cold or from his proximity she couldn't tell, "Tell me about it."

He smiled wide this time and opened the door to her side with a click. He flipped on the light, "Bathroom." He opened the cabinet and grabbed the extra towel in there and handed it to her. "Take a shower and warm yourself up. We'll take care of the little man and your car when it gets here." He left the room for a moment and Maria was too confused to move, when he returned he had a dark piece of material bunched up in his huge hands. "Here's a jumpsuit. Its Mia's, unfortunately, we don't have anyone smaller than her around."

She smiled up at him and then realized she was still leaking all over his floor, "I can mop this when I get out. I feel like a snail, leaving a trail behind me wherever I go." They both smiled at the childish joke and she got a little serious, "Thank you. For all of your help." Finally she smiled again and the room seemed brighter, "If my day keeps improving like this, I may never want to leave." He raised an eyebrow and her smile faded a little, "I'm not used to hospitality."

"We're not used to customers!" Mia shouted down the hallway.

"No problem." He said softly and her smile returned and he turned to leave.

She shut the door and tried to remember how to breathe. She grumbled to herself about being an immeasurable ass and turned the shower onto the hottest setting. She let the water heat up as she peeled off her clothes. She was tempted to leave her boots on since they were already soaked, but the bathroom looked clean she saw the sign on the door that said "Employees Only." She felt safe until she thought of Beardy and wondered where the last place he had been. She took them off anyways and then stripped off her underwear. She was now completely naked. In an automotive shop. In the middle of New Mexico. To block out the scary thoughts in her head she started to wring out her clothing as much as possible. She was on the first leg of her jeans when there was a knock at the door.

He cleared his throat and it was like a rock slide over her, she was suddenly hyper-aware of her nakedness at this point and she did what any self-respecting woman would do. She froze.

"Mia asked me to get your clothes."

Silence.

Breathe.

"Pardon?" She shouted, over the spray of the water.

"To put in the washer."

"Oh." She said to herself. She picked up the large towel and wrapped it around herself tighter than Fort Knox and opened the door. Steam flooded out around her. She had the soaked clothes in her arms.

Dom nodded and tried not to stare. She definitely wasn't bad looking while she was soaking wet and exhausted. She absolutely was not unattractive wrapped in a towel with her body covered in a sheen mist. It was a little too much for either of them, so they pretended like they weren't looking at each other and made the transaction as quickly as possible. She slammed the door and heard the deep chuckle and felt it roll up her spine.

_Yikes_


	2. Chapter 2

-2-

Mia couldn't help but laugh.

"Mommy, you look silly."

"I feel like I'm five." She said as she looked down at herself. "Can't you have any normal sized people working here?" Maria growled at Dom and Luca giggled from behind the counter.

Mia a walked around the counter, smacked Dom upside the head and walked over to Maria, who was starting to roll up the sleeves of the abnormally large jumpsuit. It had "Dominic" written on the chest pocket.

"Really Dom?" Mia said.

He shrugged, "None of yours are here. I was curious."

Maria's glare sharpened. Mia helped her roll up the legs and then ushered Maria into a seat. Her son was happily sipping on the hot chocolate and Dom slid a plate and a cup over to her.

"Bless you." She murmured happily as she took a sip of the steaming hot coffee. They all heard the whine of the garage bay doors opening and the engine of the tow truck wheezing over the sound of the pouring rain. Once the engine cut, the doors opened and she heard the grumbles of the two men climbing out. She hopped off of her chair, held the cup in one hand and her other hand out to her son who was climbing off the bar stool.

"Lets see what's up with your car." Dom said as he began walking towards the garage with Mia in tow.

The car was being unhooked as it dripped all over the floor of the garage as they all walked in. Maria took a look around and stared in awe at the garage around her. It was large and had every tool she'd ever seen and then some hanging on the walls. In the corner there was a beat up Pick-Up and a small, aerodynamic looking thing parked next to it, with a beautiful bright orange paint job with crazy markings. Her car was let down and the boys hovered around it.

She heard a huff to her side, "Men." Mia rolled her eyes.

Luca unhooked his hand from his mom and ran over to Dom's side and slightly hugged his leg. Maria's breath hitched in her chest as she watched Dom's body language. He looked rough and mean at almost all times. When he felt the boy at his side, she saw him physically relax and look down, his features softer than they were before. He smiled down to the kid who was looking up at him and he rubbed his head.

"You know anything about cars?" He smiled.

Luca nodded, "My mommy works on hers and I get to help!" He sounded ecstatic.

Dom turned his body around to look at Maria and smiled, "Nice car, nice kid, and you know how to work on it?"

Maria smiled, "My dad taught me some stuff when I was little. Its his old car actually. I can't do too much, but I at least know when something goes wrong."

Leon popped the hood and let out a low whistle, "This thing is in great condition." His voice was low and smooth, but nothing compared to Dom's.

"You work on it a lot?" Vince asked as he circled and went to see the engine.

"I grew up with this car. I know everything about it. Other cars, not so much, but this one," Maria sighed, "This is my other baby."

They all smiled. Dom looked her up and down with appreciation. Mia caught his eye and raised an eyebrow. He automatically dropped the shit-eating-grin and went back to his normal scowl.

"Go eat." Vince grumbled. "We'll check her out for you."

About an hour or so after Maria and Luca consumed almost everything not nailed down, they said her car was ready, but her clothes were not. Luca was asleep in Dom's office and the boys were all in the garage tinkering.

"I really cant tell you how much I appreciate all the help." She smiled at Mia. Dom came out of the garage, wiping his hands on a cloth and covered in a thin layer of sweat. Maria glanced over, gulped down some air and shook off the thoughts creeping into her mind. "How much do I owe you for the tow and the fix up?"

"Don't worry about it." Dom smiled and Mia beamed. "You had to walk four miles in that rain, I'm not gonna make you pay for this. Its not like we needed any new parts. The engine overheated from a small oil leak. We patched it up and by the time your clothes dry, you should be good to go."

Maria's jaw dropped, "I cant…..You cant….I need to….Ummmm."

Dom nodded, "Seriously. Its not a problem."

"Please, I-,"

"You wont win." Mia interrupted. "Once he's made up his mind, its impossible to change – stubborn jerk, that he is."

Maria chewed on her lower lip in order to find the right response. She sighed, "Thank you."

Dom nodded and returned to the garage.

"So what brings you all the way out to glorious Glorietta?" Mia smiled, refilling Maria's cup with some more coffee.

Maria sighed. She hated this part. "We were on our way back from Santa Fe for some business. We live in Pecos, which is just a few miles from here and the car broke down. I've never had any problems with the thing until today." She scoffed, "Naturally, my car would break down in the middle of nowhere during a typhoon."

Mia laughed, "Yeah, we all have our luck."

"No shit." Maria smiled. She sipped her coffee.

"Where's your old man?" Mia noticed that the cup froze on Maria's lips for just a second before she caught herself and kept drinking. She swallowed the coffee slow and diverted her eyes.

"Dead." Maria said nonchalant. Mia's face went into a horrified grimace.

"Oh my….I'm so…jesus….I'm so sorry!"

Maria waved her off, "Its ok. It happened before Luca was born. We weren't really….you know. Its ok. I don't miss him all that much."

Mia swallowed, "Oh, ok."

In that moment, Maria heard the shriek of a young boy and she was out of her seat and down the hall before Mia registered what the sound was. They all rushed into Dom's office and saw Maria holding her son close to her chest, the boy was slightly teary-eyed and clutching the jump suit she was wearing with white knuckles. She was whispering something to him as he took in deep breaths, rocking him back and forth. Dom pushed Leon and Vince back into the garage and Mia went back into the store to find something for Luca.

When Maria looked up, she saw Dom in the doorway, one arm up high while the other hung at his side. His brows were knitted in concern as his eyes went back and forth between the two on the couch. He realized then just how young Maria really looked.

The boy looked calmer as the minutes passed and he fell back asleep in her arms. She sighed heavily and laid him back down on the beaten couch, covering him with a huge fuzzy blanket. She sighed heavily and began flexing and unflexing her fingers. Dom watched her patiently from the doorway not making any noise.

She stood up and softly pushed past him into the hallway.

He followed her as she took a few steps and leaned into the wall. Her hands still slightly shaking. She looked extremely vulnerable. Her short hair was now drying into dark blonde bouncy waves, and the jump suit hung off of her like a child in her father's robe.

"He ok?" Dom asked, watching as she closed her eyes tight and shook her head slowly.

She opened them and looked back up at Dom and she smiled, the fear that was evident, melting off of her as she calmed down. "He has bad nightmares. He woke up and didn't remember where he was, I just had to let him know I was there. He's ok now." She sounded beat.

"You ok?"

She scoffed, "Peachy keen, thanks." She only half meant it. Her eyes went from the empty floor in front of her onto the boots that came into her vision. It took a long time to drag them up his giant body, and when she got to his face, she was scared of the look in his eyes. Compassion. She hadn't seen that in someone's face for a few years now.

He reached for her arm and saw her twitch slightly at his touch. He used his large thumb to rub the soft skin of her arm gently. He squeezed her softly after a few moments and walked back into the garage, leaving Maria in the hallway to be by herself.

* * *

That night after Dom, Mia, Leon, Vince and Jesse returned from the races, they entered their home all yelling at the top of their lungs after the victory. They were followed by a few of the local racers who had made names for themselves and started a small party. As the night wore on the party got larger and more people showed up bringing more alcohol.

Vince had latched on to a small brunette with huge breasts that were more than likely than not to be fake. Leon and Jesse were in a debate about particular engine parts with cute blonde twins on their laps, sucking down something fruity and colorful in a bottle.

Mia was also enjoying herself, making comments to fellow racers and friends within her household, ensuring that everyone had drinks in their hands and someone to dance with. Mia is ever the hostess.

As she wandered through the lower half of the house she didn't see her brother. He was usually surrounded three deep by bleached blonde females just waiting to rub up against him. It used to make her sick to watch her brother flirt and associate with them, but now that he was single, it didn't really matter any more – not that she had ever approved of that type. She wondered what life would be like if she had more female friends as she wandered around with a beer in her hand until she noticed a light on up the stairs.

She looked around and saw that everyone was drunk and happy and then she climbed them. She was a little nervous to enter her brother's room after many nights of awkward instances with half naked bimbos screeching about privacy – she did not want to go down that road again.

She knocked on the doorjamb and someone grunted assent from inside. As she turned the corner she saw her brother standing next to the light, with a black wallet in his hands. She noticed it was practically empty in his large hands.

"What's up?" She said, taking a swig of her beer and closing in on her brother. He tossed the wallet and she slapped it around in one hand until she caught it up against her body. She grumbled a name at him and started picking through it. She found the drivers license and looked up at her brother astounded.

"Did Vince steal this!?"

Dom laughed, "No, he didn't steal it. I found it on the floor in the store underneath a candy rack when I was mopping up earlier."

The picture on the ID was a small blonde woman with a shy smile and big grey eyes. The name read Alena Maria Shepherd. It was Luca's mother.

"Shit." Mia grumbled. "I should go drop it off tomorrow afternoon, but I have class!" She inspected the ID some more and tried to see if there was any other information in the wallet that would lead her to Maria. The address was conveniently on there, but she didn't want to just show up at the woman's house without warning.

"I'll take care of it Mia."

Mia was so engrossed in her search she barely heard him, "Wha?"

He snickered, "I'll take care of it. I'll take it tomorrow and make Jesse run the shop. God knows those other two assholes cant do anything other than hit on women and drink."

Just then two bodies stumbled into the room, Vince grumbled, "I resemble that."

Mia chuckled and looked back at Dom, "Alright, but try to get a number for her. Just don't show up."

"Who?" Vince asked with Leon hanging on his shoulder. He grabbed the wallet and looked at the ID picture. He let out the wolf whistle and smiled. "Fuck, I'll do it! That bitch was fine."

Mia groaned in disgust and Dom just growled, "She has a kid," he said, "She isn't one of our fan girls Vince. Have a little respect?"

Leon laughed outloud, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I just here Dom stand up for a chick?"

Mia giggled. It was true, her brother didn't do that. He barely talked to women any more except for his biweekly fuck, let alone talk about respecting one.

Dom smiled, "You know me boys, all the girls out there?" He scoffed, "But this one, she's a mom. Be nice."

"MILF." Leon blurted out before he realized it.

They all broke into heavy laughter which dragged Jesse up from the party.

"What's happening? Why do I always get left out of the funny stuff?" He held onto the doorway for support.

"Dom's just preaching to us about respecting women." Vince laughed.

Jesse squinted at Dom, "Are you, like, going soft or something man?"

Everyone started laughing again as Dom lunged for Jesse and got him in a headlock and started to knuckle his messy hair. Jesse was shouting stop it as Mia put the ID in front of his face.

"That's what the boys are talking about."

"Wow." Jesse said, still in the head lock. "She's pretty."

"Once again, I repeat: MILF." Leon chuckled.

"You are all ridiculous." Dom muttered letting him go.

"Just let us know before you start wearing pink t shirts and spouting feminist bull shit." Leon chuckled.

"Or listening to Yanni."

Jesse chimed in, "You can always borrow my candles and bubble bath if you need to relax."

"Fuck all of you." Dom chuckled and pushed them out of the room. As they made their way down stairs laughing, the men's attention was diverted by three leggy blondes with huge tits dancing in front of the TV.

"Dibs!" Leon yelled as they watched the girls gyrate from the stairs.

Dom chuckled, "I bet you all twenty bucks I can get all three of them."

"Shit, I'll take that." Jesse chuckled, chugging some more of his beer.

"You're on bro." Vince smiled shaking his hand.

"I'll see you're twenty and make it fifty if you can get all of them, together. I'll tattoo your face on my nuts if you do it within the next hour!" Leon laughed.

"Oh ye of little faith." Dom chuckled and stepped down the rest of the stairs and was engulfed by the three women.

"Fuck!"

"Piss!"

"Shit!"

Mia just laughed, "Men."


	3. Chapter 3

-3-

"Balls!" She yelled slamming her fists into the wall. "Balls! Balls! Balls!"

Her room was completely turned upside down, with clothes and shoes strewn about. She had found her purse in her car but couldn't find her wallet for the life of her. She had searched all around the house with Luca's help but didn't have a single shred of luck. She had about thirty-five minutes until she had to be at work and she couldn't find her wallet anywhere.

"What's wrong?" Christine asked, poking her head into the doorway.

"Wallet. Missing." She sighed, "Pissed!"

"Hey its ok, I'll drop you off at work. I can get Mrs. Fuller to come over and watch Luca for a bit." Christine said grabbing at Maria's shoulders. Maria smiled at her friend. She was short, like Maria, with dark caramel skin and long thick black hair. She was Vietnamese, but looked more along the lines of Hawaiian or Philipino because she was curvy and full lipped in comparison to almost any other Asian Maria had ever met. She was also her best friend, someone she trusted her life with.

About twenty minutes later Christine and Maria pulled up outside of the large office building in Santa Fe. Christine gave her friend a tight hug and kissed her on the temple.

"I love you, be safe."

Maria smiled, "Thanks. I will."

"I'll be here to pick you up around four?" Christine smiled.

Maria sighed, "Yeah, I'm sorry about this. Are you gonna be ok to work tomorrow?"

Christine scoffed, "Honey I have the easiest job around. I yell at minions to do work for me and I take phone calls from pissed off customers. I'll be fine."

Maria laughed, "Alright. Thanks." They kissed each other on the cheek and Maria got out of Christine's car.

As Maria walked her way up to the building she pulled out her key card and scanned herself in. Her thoughts buzzed around in her head raging from her past with Christine, her son, her job, and oddly enough the events of the last two days.

Once in the oversized elevator she let herself grow a little bitter that at only twenty four she was reduced to work in this semi-legitimate business in order to pay for her bills. However, she wasn't about to complain that all she had to do was serve drinks in tiny outfits to rich old men who paid thousands a year for their memberships. She got paid twenty-five dollars an hour to walk around and flaunt her body without ever having to worry about being touched or groped inappropriately. She also only had to work Monday through Fridays from midnight to four am, got paid cash, and didn't have to reveal any information about herself that she didn't want to.

The "Wine Club" as it was called was an association that gathered rich tycoons from all over the west coast to get together, smoke cigars, drink wine or any other preferred beverage, and oogle over pretty young women. There were the back rooms that had the option for Happy Ending Massages, but Maria decided that she had to at least maintain some dignity. Those girls got paid hundreds of dollars in order to keep their mouths shut and their bodies clean and in shape. Maria was satisfied with her hourly wage and the tips she received. Most of the old men were married, dirty, selfish, ugly, and ridiculously rich. She didn't lose a wink of sleep over taking some of their money simply because they didn't seem to miss it all that much.

When she exited the elevator she was face to chest with Lonnie, the intimidating and huge bouncer dressed in all black. His skin wasn't much lighter than his shirt, and you could barely tell that the material existed because it was tight across his large muscular body. He looked down at her behind dark glasses with a scowl that would have made any grown man flee and scream like a child. When she looked up at him and smiled, his features melted and he grabbed her into a tight bear hug.

"Lonnie…." She rasped, "Cant….breathe."

"That's the point beautiful, no one escapes my full power hugs." He released her and set her back on the ground and smiled, his features soft.

"For such a big guy, you sure are a dope." Maria laughed and he chuckled.

"What can I say, pretty women with gorgeous kids get to me." He smiled, "How's the munchkin?"

"Good." She smiled as he walked her back into the dressing room, "Helped him out with his schoolwork – being in first grade is a bitch!"

"Yeah," he scoffed, "I gave up after 5th grade since I was bigger than the teacher."

She wasn't sure if he was joking and found that his comment wasn't hard to believe.

"Well thanks for the walk Lonnie. I appreciate it." She had her hand on the doorknob when she paused and turned around, "How's Donnie?"

Lawrence and Donald Georgia were identical twins that happened to both be 6'7" walls of black muscle. They were both handsome, mean as ever, and unflinchingly loyal to Maria and Luca.

"Donnie's got a cold so he wont be here tonight. Fuckin' pussy." He groused, "You don't see me bitchin' about my tendonitis flaring up! You don't see me whining about these old fuckers whining about how we are too rough with them when they touch our girls. Shit, that boy needs to grow up. I'm sick of his ass."

Maria stifled a giggle and tucked some blonde hair behind her ear. "Give him a few years Lonnie, he cant be as mature and dignified as you are. Maybe you got all of the good genes."

"Damn straight." He muttered as he turned to go man his position by the elevator.

It was 7 pm and Maria had an hour to get ready. The girls that worked always entered from the back of the building and came up through the executive elevators. The building had some sort of functional purpose but the top three floors were reserved for the bar and cigar lounge, the massage parlors and relaxation rooms, and the top floor, which was where the ladies all got ready for their night of debauch.

Most of the girls were around the same age as Maria, some were about twenty and others were about thirty plus. All of them were leggy, big breasted, tan and generic looking for the gold digging type women the old men were after. Those were the girls that actually took the drinks to the men and sat on their laps and tried to pump up their egos. Thankfully, Maria got stuck behind the bar in her fancy little outfits and got to talk with the men who were tired, bored, and too drunk to focus on a woman walking around in bright green spandex.

She dropped her purse on her makeup table and went to grab an outfit for the night. She focused on a short black skirt and an off the shoulder pink top that sat high on her stomach and low on her chest. She began to draw the dark theatrical makeup on her face outlining her eyes in black and fading the shadow up to a pink that matched her shirt. Her lips were lacquered with dark red lipstick and a gloss that made them sticky and shiny. She finished up the make up and then strapped on her ensemble, complete with a pair of black over the knee pleather boots that had a four-inch stiletto heel and a pointy toe. She stood in front of the mirror and tucked her hair underneath the stocking cap on her head and pulled on the long black curled wig and fastened it to her skull. She sighed deeply and smiled as the other girls walked behind her to start the festivities of the night.

She stretched her arms and legs, making sure that nothing would mysteriously pop out and give the older gents a heart attack and then followed the rest of the girls to the elevator. As all eight of them crowded in they were followed by Lonnie who stood in front as if to protect them from a stampede.

"You ready gorgeous?" He winked at Maria.

She let out a deep breath and blew some of the black bangs out of her face, "Ready as I'll ever fuckin' get."

He chuckled as he pressed the down button and they descended to the floor where the bar and cigar lounge was located. The girls got about ten minutes to arrange themselves and pick up their station for the night and Maria happily walked herself behind the waist high bar that was nothing more than a plate glass counter top and clear table legs surrounded by black and clear barstools. She was there for eye candy and they were going to get their fill of it. As the men started to flood in she got herself sorted for the night and put on her best sexy smile. She arranged the rest of the bar that was located on the back wall with an assortment of the most expensive alcohols and mixers as well as four different wine racks, refrigerated or not, depending on the type. To the left of the most expensive bar known to man was the cigar selection. She basically had eight hours worth of wiggling herself about (which wasn't hard to do in four inch stilettos) and pouring drinks and grabbing cigars for the men at the club. Every tip she got was fifty plus and she actually had a good time talking to an Italian gentleman who was probably in his eighties.

"I pay all this money to be teased," He chuckled sipping on his hundred-dollar cognac. "I also pay ten thousand a bottle to die slowly."

Maria laughed, "Oh come now, your life cant be so bad if you are able to drink and smoke as much as you want with pretty little women dancing at your every whim."

His eyebrow raised, he was unbelievably attractive for being so old. It should be a crime to look as good as he did. Nothing like the rest of the plump sweating masses of white haired men in the club. This guy was what they meant when they said the words "tall, dark, and handsome."

"I don't see you out there rubbing up on some yuppie, even though I know you've had the million dollar offers." He smiled.

"I only serve the drinks. I have more experience than most of the women in here when it comes to bar tending and exotic and expensive alcohols and cigars. They have more experience when it comes to coddling old men for their money."

He snickered and moved a hand to cover his Armani vested heart, "Oh, you're killin' me. So you are saying that your wonderful wit and humor have only been to take the money out of my pockets?"

She laughed and batted her large eyes, "Baby, most men who come in here don't look twice at me and usually spill a drink down my shirt. Its nice to have a man here that just wants a good drink from me and not a handful of tit."

He took a long drag off of his cigar, "Well the night is still young."

She laughed at that, "Plus I don't get ANY men in here who can handle teasing like you can. God forbid I don't stroke their balls every second I fix them a drink."

He chuckled and sipped his cognac. "So what's your name?"

"Elika."

"You're real name?"

She smiled, "I don't give it out to anyone unfortunately, not even a looker like you."

He chuckled, "What if I said I just wanted your name so I can tattoo it over my heart? And propose to you and take you away to a desert island for you to be my trophy wife?"

"I'd say my name is Elika and when do I start?"

He let out a echoing laugh that startled just about everyone in the room. He took another drag from his cigar and evaluated the pretty black haired girl behind the bar a little more closely. "That's not your real hair color either is it?"

She smiled, leaning on the bar towards him trying to take some of the heat off of her pulsating feet, "Nope."

"What is?"

"It matters?"

He shrugged, "Just curious. Trying to get a feel for what you are really like."

She smiled and grimaced slightly, "Probably not the best place you should try to get to know a girl."

He chuckled, "Very true my girl. Very true."

Three a.m. rolled around and most of the male patrons were starting to stumble out to their cars. Thankfully they were all so rich that they had paid drivers waiting for them in the garage under the building. Maria started to clean up a little and noticed that Mr. Handsome had left his card with "call me" written on it. She laughed softly to herself and pocketed the card with the rest of her tips.

Once she finally rolled out of the club back in her jeans and a zipped up sweatshirt she was rifling through her purse to find her key chain with a flash light and mace attached. She stepped out of the door and the night air hit her hard in the chest. It was that kind of desert cold that you can feel deep in your chest when you inhale. She pulled a knit hat out of her deep purse and pulled it over her head. She then grabbed her pack of cigarettes and lit one up, inhaling the cold smoke and looking around, waiting for Christine to arrive.

Instead she saw a familiar car across the street. It was a bright orange color with interesting decals all over the sides and it had a tall dark man leaning on the hood.

The breath caught in her chest as he pushed off the hood and started walking towards her, getting bigger with every step. She took a long drag off of the cigarette and exhaled slowly when she saw the street lamp light up his face.

"Hi."

She didn't respond. She couldn't.

He cleared his throat and smiled with those full lips.

"Oh…." She said distantly, "You're real?"

He laughed softly, "I'd hope so."

"Why are you here?" She spat out, she was actually thinking it, but perhaps the cold stopped her from processing things correctly.

"I came by to give you this," He held out her wallet and her eyes went wide, "and a ride home if you'd let me."

"You -," The words sunk in her chest and she didn't know what to say. "Its four a.m. why are you here?"

"Well I went by your house at around 8 and you're friend, Christine was there watching Luca. I asked where you were and she said at work. I asked when you were off and she told me four a.m. I said I had your wallet cause you left it at the shop and then we started talking a little and she said that she would appreciate it if I picked you up so she could watch Luca."

Maria's eyes went into slits and she could feel the steam coming out of her ears,_ that is the LAST time I ever tell Christine about men. EVER!_

"You ok?" He smiled.

Maria sighed, "Not that I don't greatly appreciate it and all, but I sort of feel like beating the ever living hell out of my so-called best friend for allowing a stranger to pick me up at four a.m. from my shady job."

He took his brown eyes from hers for a moment and looked behind her at the magnificent office building behind her. "Looks alright to me."

"Shows how much you know." She grumbled and threw her cigarette to the ground to stomp it out. At that moment she heard the door behind her open and shut and she felt the ground rumble as someone came up behind her. A huge hand rested on her shoulder that she could only guess was Lonnie's, by the way is draped over half of her body.

"This guy giving you shit Elika?"

"Elika?" Dom said in disbelief.

"Work alias."

"Oh."

"Hey wait a second!" Lonnie said removing his dark shades to look at Dom better. "I know you! My cousin Roofie raced against you and lost like 3 Gs!"

A look of utter confusion came over Maria's face and a tight-lipped smile came over Dom's, as if he was trying to hold back some emotion.

"Yeah."

"You Domonic Toretto!"

Maria raised an eyebrow, "Famous, are we?"

He shrugged and tried to brush off Lonnie's many attempts at explaining just how famous Dom really was.

"Shit man, I go to them races all the time on the weekend when I ain't working. That girl Mia is fine! She's your sister right? You think I could get a date?"

Now besides the fact that Lonnie was a good five inches or so taller than Dom, an unnerving feeling washed over the both of them as Dom's face went from a smile to a scowl.

"Hey man, just askin." Lonnie said slipping his glasses back on, "See you tomorrow E!"

"Bye Lonnie!" Maria waved over her shoulder not taking her eyes off of the man in front of her. She was afraid if she blinked he would disappear. "He's a nice guy actually. Great manners. Good job. No one would fuck with your sister if she was out with him."

Dom let out an uneven breath, "No one is supposed to fuck with her because she's my baby sister. It's a rough subject. Mia doesn't usually date the greatest guys for her health."

Maria scoffed, "Tell me about it."

Another eyebrow rose.

"Does that thing have hydraulics on it or something?" She muttered pushing past him.

"Hey I'm supposed to give you a ride."

_Fuck_. She thought and stopped dead in her tracks. She spun slowly on her heel and looked at him beneath the streetlights. No one should ever look that good under orange fluorescents.

He held up her wallet and then jingled his keys.

Maria couldn't help but smile, "Seriously, this has got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever done."

He smiled, as he walked with her back over to the car, "No, stupid would have been saying 'no' and then having me throw you into the passenger seat. I keep my promises." He smiled, opening her door for her.

"Ha! Okay." She muttered sarcastically as he shut the door and walked to the other side of the car. Once he sat down and started the engine she looked over at him, watching him with all the glowing buttons and switches. "Why are you up at four a.m.? Shouldn't you have some teeny-bopper wrapped around your body like a pretzel?"

He chuckled, "That's only Mondays and Wednesdays."

"Ah. I see." She smiled leaning her head against the back of the seat.

"You see?"

"Yes. I see." She kept her eyes shut but a massaging hand on her right knee to keep her awake and the pain at bay.


	4. Chapter 4

-4-

The car finally came to a stop and when the engine cut, that's when Maria woke up.

"Shit!" She rasped, a little alarmed as to where she was and who she was with. She felt the seat belt on her chest and began to struggle against until large hands grabbed her wrists and held her down.

"Maria!"

She paused, at first, not registering the voice that was so low it was sinful. She opened her eyes fully and saw that Dom was leaning over her with a concerned look in his eye.

"Hi. Shit. Sorry." She mumbled and he let her hands go. "I don't usually fall asleep like that in a strange car."

He smiled halfway and unhooked her seatbelt for her, "Don't worry about it."

She gave a deep sigh and he saw her anxiety slowly melt away. He got out of his car and opened the door for her. She stepped out and started walking towards the small house's porch and sat down hard on the top step. Dom followed behind her and watched as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He had quit smoking a long time ago when he got out of prison. He didn't hate it so much, he just didn't want to be hooked on it for the rest of his life. Dom didn't have a hard time getting rid of things that made his life complicated. She held the pack up for him and he nodded it off. She put it back in her pockets and pulled up her legs, wrapping her arms around herself. She inhaled and exhaled the smoke without using her hands. Dom took a seat next to her and removed his jacket wrapping it around her small frame. She tried to push it off but he forced it on her.

"Look at me, you think I get cold that easy?" She looked him up and down and knew that he didn't. She could feel the heat coming off of him in waves, melting the wood beneath where they sat.

"Thank you." Maria said softly, "So, what brings you around at four in the morning. Don't you have a shop to watch over?"

"Shop doesn't open till eleven. Even, Mia is always over at the shop at around eight in order to prep for the day." He nodded and reached over to her mouth and grabbed the cigarette from her lips. He took a deep pull and put it back in her mouth for her. "So what do you do for a living?"

She looked sideways at him and seemed to shrink a few more inches, "Don't wanna talk about it. So are you famous or something?"

"Infamous, rather." He smiled. "We race our cars."

"Race, like as in NASCAR?

He chuckled, "No, not like NASCAR. We do quarter mile straight tracks and whoever wins gets the money."

"Oh I get it. Its like that Asian racing fad." She nodded he seemed to smile despite himself, "What do they call the cars? Umm," she thought hard for a few moments and then snapped her fingers when it popped into her head, "Rice rockets!"

He chuckled, "Yea, some of them. Now I don't like to think of my baby as a rice rocket -,"

"If the rim fits."

He nudged her shoulder and took another pull from her cigarette, he exhaled, "So come on, what's your job? Got to be something interesting if you got a guy like Lonnie all over your ass."

"I just bartend for an upscale club of old rich guys, that's all." She muttered.

"Sounds intriguing."

She shrugged, "Most of them are married, just overly rich and overly bored with their lives. They want to drink and smoke with their buddies while women flaunt over them and caress their egos."

"That all they get caressed?"

She scoffed, "I just serve'em drinks and cigars. There are other girls meant for that shit. I get paid for my exceptional bar tending skills."

"I'm sure that's not the only skill they pay you for."

She punched him hard in the shoulder and he was surprised that it actually stung a little, "Hey I have a child! I have my dignity thank you very much!"

He chuckled, "I never said you didn't Ms. Defensive."

"Ass." She muttered through the smoke.

"Maria?" A tired voice sounded as it opened the door.

"Yeah Christine, I was just having a smoke. I'll be in, in a second."

"Ok, I'll leave the door unlocked."

"She live with you?"

Maria smiled, "Basically. She has a swanky apartment in Santa Fe, but she likes to spend most of her time around here with Luca and me. She's my best friend and I've known her forever."

"Swanky?"

"She owns a few hotels in the area."

Dom nodded and his eyebrows went up, "Nice."

"She isn't like your type though. Don't get any ideas."

He laughed, "My type?"

"Blonde. Bubbly. More tits than they got brains." She smiled.

"You got me." He chuckled. "But what if I did have ideas, but they weren't about her?"

Maria almost swallowed her cigarette. Instead she slowly took it out of her mouth and offered it up to Dom. He shook his head and she tossed it into the street. "What does that mean?"

He shrugged, "Can I see you again?"

Maria shrugged, "I don't see you being the relationship type."

Dom snaked his arm around her shoulder put his hand under the neck of her sweatshirt to brush against the skin of her neck. Her breath began to get a little more ragged as she felt his fingers splay over her neck, the heat from his fingers igniting a line of tingling fire that went straight to her happy places. She felt him lean in and kiss her ear gently licking at the lobe.

"I don't date _my_ type. But if the right woman came along…" He rumbled in her ear and bit down softly on the lobe.

She practically jumped out of her skin, knocking him to the side and scrambling to make it back up the steps without killing herself. "Jesus! I'm sorry! I just…You cant….I'm….FUCK!"

Dom just smiled from his place on the ground as he watched her wave her arms about and stomp on the top step of the deck. He stood up and she went deathly still staring at him from under the rim of her hat that had fallen over her eyes.

He pulled it up a little to look into her beautiful grey eyes and then kissed her softly on the lips.

"Don't be a stranger." He smiled and patted her on the cheek. "You work tomorrow?"

She still couldn't speak, she didn't want to move her lips for fear that the feeling of his lips on hers would dissipate.

"Maria?"

She rubbed her lips together as if testing out some new chapstick and nodded. He turned and jogged over to his car, started it up with a roar and zoomed off down the street. It took her a few seconds to get her feet moving. She then started to turn slowly and made her way inside the small two-bedroom house. Christine was sitting in the front room with a hand over her mouth, shaking her head furiously.

"Holy SHIT!" Christine rasped.

Maria just kept smiling. She looked at her friend and they started giggling hysterically, trying to muffle them with each other's hands.

"I just got hit on by a really attractive guy who isn't more than 10 years older than me!!"

"Bitch!" Christine yelled shaking her friend by her shoulders furiously, "You just got KISSED by a fucking HOT ass mother fucker!! HOLY SHIT!"

"Shhh!!!" Maria shushed her friend as they kept laughing. Both of them knew that Luca had no problem once he was asleep. The kid could sleep through a Zombie attack.

"So?" Christine asked.

"So what?"

Christine hit her friend upside the head, "When are you gonna see him again?"

Maria shrugged, "Don't know. Don't know if I'll ever see him again. I think my poor sex deprived mind made him up."

Christine scoffed, "Man if you made that up that is one vivid ass fuckin fantasy and next time, I want one too." She stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna go to work."

"Want to shower?" Maria asked. Her friend rolled her eyes.

"Honey, I work at a hotel. I have an apartment in each one that I can stay at. Don't even trip!"

They both giggled and hugged and that's when Christine noticed that Maria was wearing a rather large sweater. "Wait. This sweatshirt smells like sex. It's not yours because it's god-awful big and you _never_ get any. And it smells like SEX! It _must_ be his!"

Maria looked down and God Damn, Christine was right. Maria was still wearing his sweatshirt. She looked up at her friend and her friend just smiled.

"Honey you gotta get it back to him!" She wiggled her eyebrows

"Its five a.m. I need to get Luca up and ready for school in an hour. I cant -,"

"I didn't mean right now stupid!" Christine smacked herself in the head. "I mean you are gonna drive your ass out there this weekend and return his sweater and then lick him from fuckin' head to toe and give me every juicy detail!"

Maria couldn't stop laughing as Christine grabbed her purse and kissed her on the head goodbye.

"I'll be back tomorrow to watch Luca. Now, on Saturday, I'm gonna call my mom and she's gonna take Luca to one of my suites where they will be under lock and key and we are going to go out for the weekend and find this voluptuous man and as God as my witness get your ass LAID!" She said with a flourish and slammed the front door for more emphasis.

Maria laughed as she walked down the hallway to check on her boy. She found him in his bed, dead to the world, and sprawled out on his little twin sized mattress. She admired that his room, unlike most six-year olds he knew was not covered in endless toys and video games, but clean and organized. He was definitely her son. He also liked to read more so than play any video games. He had a small shelf full of books that Maria knew had to be way too advanced for his age. He also had a few things of sports equipment (basketball, baseball and glove, football) and plastic guns and swords that made ridiculous sounds when they were used. His room was not decorated except for the bedside lamp and the sheets on the bed. Everything else was shoved into the closet and kept in its rightful place. She walked in and placed a soft kiss on his forehead and he turned to cuddle into her. She pushed him into the center of the bed so he wouldn't fall off and then she pulled the covers up that he had kicked off.

She closed his door with a soft smile and made her way into the small garage attached to the house. She stripped off her layers of clothes, leaving her in a pair of spandex shorts and a sports bra that she wore to and from work underneath all her clothes. She had a set of free weights, a large punching bag and a speed bag hanging from the ceiling, and a jump rope to keep up her stamina. She started going through her morning routine of hundreds of sit ups, push ups, thirty minutes of jump rope and thirty minutes on the bags. When she was done, she was dripping with sweat, her arms hung limply at her side and her entire body was pulsating with the adrenaline and blood going through her muscles. As she walked into her room she admired her full sized bed with comfy sheets that Christine had obviously slept in. If everything else was cheap and functional, Maria loved to spend her money on good, soft, comfortable sheets for her and her son. You spend half of your life sleeping anyways, why not do it in style? She stripped from her workout clothes and threw them in the hamper next to her bathroom door. She grabbed her shaggy old robe that was once her father's and turned on the tub, filling it with the hottest water she could muster and pouring in some jasmine oils. The girl knows how to pamper herself without bleeding money.

Once the tub was full she sat herself in the water slowly, letting the smell and the water ease her thundering muscles. As she sat she let her mind wander over the past few years.

Luca had grown up into a beautiful young boy who was just about as glorious as an angel and behaved just as well. Despite the pain and the fear that the poor boy had experienced, he was strong and he loved his mom. Maria told Luca the truth as much as his six-year old brain could understand. At first, when he was only a year or so old she tried desperately to keep their family together and took whatever her former husband had dished out. But once that man turned on his son and laid a hand on him, Maria knew that there was no way in hell she would ever let him near her or Luca ever again. When he was out of town she cancelled her credit cards, her cell phone, every single thing that was traceable or connected to him and blew out of town with the only thing that mattered to her: Luca. She even left behind the one good thing that ever came from her marriage: a 2006 BMW M6, and she took off in her dad's charger, the one he spent years building up from the ground. The one that her husband's family took from him when he couldn't pay his gambling debts. The last thing they took from him before…

"Mommy?" Luca was standing in the doorway, his eyes half closed in sleep and his springy hair ruffled and frizzy from a solid nights sleep.

"Hi baby." Maria said. Luca knew about the differences between boys and girls because Maria had to explain it to him a long time ago when he walked in on her changing. He now knew to stay in the doorway and wait for his mommy to come out to him. "I'll be out in a second honey, ok? Go ahead and get your stuff ready for school."

When she heard his little feet pitter patter to the next room she got herself out of the tub and dried herself off quickly, pulling the robe over her shoulders and fastening it tight around her waist. The dark blue material pooled around her as she stepped into her slippers and walked into her sons room to see him tying his shoes, his brow knitting in concentration and his tongue peaking out of the side of his mouth. She leaned on the door and watched him. He finally noticed her presence and smiled.

"Mommy." He said shyly and rolled his eyes. He got up and went to wrap his arms around her and squeezed tight.

"What do you want for breakfast? Oatmeal?"

"Toast and eggs please!" He smiled.

"Scrambled or pokey?"

"Pokey!" He jumped up and down, his arms still around her waist before he let go and took off for the kitchen.

While Maria made him fried eggs and toast Luca told her everything about things he was excited about in school today and about what he did the last two days in detail, as well as what his friends were all talking about and what was now considered cool to all six year olds.

While Luca finished up his breakfast, Maria went back into her bedroom to change. Her hair was a mop of loose curls so she pinned it back out of her face but left the rest down. She slipped on a new pair of jeans, realized that she needed to do wash soon, and a thermal t-shirt. She went to grab her winter coat on the hook behind her door when she saw Dom's sweatshirt lying on her bed. She picked it up and toyed with the fabric a bit fingering it and testing its thickness. In a fit of childishness, she looked around to make sure no one was secretly watching and held it up against her skin so she could feel the soft material on her face and inhale the luscious scent left on it by him. It was something deliciously musky and manly that didn't have the tang of overly priced cologne that she knew too well. She was tempted to sink her teeth into it when she heard a chuckle from behind her.

"Mommy, what are you _doing_?" Luca snickered from the doorway. She had herself wrapped in it and had a face full of the material. She dropped it quickly and threw it on the bed.

"I am about to tackle a sneaky little boy for spying on his mommy!" She growled playfully and grabbed him up, throwing him onto the bed and tickling him until he was squealing with delight. They kept that going until they were both breathing hard and giggling on the bed. Maria looked to her bedside clock and saw that it was time to go and kissed Luca quickly on the head.

"Time for the bus!" She sang happily. Luca jumped up and went to go grab his big jacket. It was wintertime in the desert and thought it was nowhere close to being freezing, it was still as cold as it can get in the area. Maria walked her son to the bus stop and watched him get on. He would ride to his school about two miles away and spend the day there learning about life spending time with friends and practicing all the things that he's already learned. He could read quite well, write neatly – for a boy – spell, and even draw. He was ok with numbers, coming from a mother who hated anything involving addition, subtraction, multiplication…well, you understand. He enjoyed school because it gave him time to practice what he enjoyed as well as make new friends, which Luca was ever so good at.

While Luca was at school, Maria spent the eight hours sleeping through what she did not get the night before. By the time Luca got out of school, she would be up and dressed waiting for him at the bus stop to take him home and start whatever homework he may have had while she straightened up the house and got things ready for dinner. Christine would show up around 6:30 to help clean up dinner and watch Luca before bedtime while Maria prepared for work.

Such is the day-to-day life of a single mother.


	5. Chapter 5

-5-

_I can't believe I'm doing this. How did she get me to do this? I must be mentally incompetent._

"Shut up. I can hear your bitter thoughts from here." Christine jabbed at her friend. "Plus all that steam coming out of your ears is gonna mess up your fabulous hair."

Christine was right, Maria's hair did look fabulous. The rest of her she was not too sure about.

Christine did deliver that weekend. On Friday afternoon, her mother Thu showed up in New Mexico in order to baby sit Luca. Since Christine vowed she would never get married or have children, Thu loved the opportunity to visit with Luca because she got to pretend that this little _mi chung_ boy was her grandchild. She spoiled him relentlessly and loved having the chances to watch him.

Christine did something outlandishly sneaky and went behind Maria's back and contacted Lonnie after Maria had told her about Dom's mysterious fame. Once she arranged escorts for Maria and herself for Saturday night's activities, she plotted and schemed and finally revealed her master plan to Maria once she was locked safely in Christine's bathroom. Once she was sedated with a few beers, Christine had forced Maria into a sinful get up and helped with her hair. Maria was no slouch with makeup – having quite the wild teen years with Christine at her side – but she'd been out of practice since her life began with Luca. Not many men were looking to hook up with a divorced mother of one at twenty-four.

That brings us back to Maria's current situation. After the forty-five minute drive, crushed betwixt Donnie and Roofie, Lonnie's brother and cousin, who were both rather large and muscular black men in the back of Lonnie's Cadillac EXT, they had arrived at the current racing spot. Christine was currently in the passenger seat next to the leaning Lonnie. They had hit it off so well they were discussing who had what side of the bed. Maria was not amused.

Her friend was decked out in skin-tight black jeans and a shimmer black top that exposed her tanned arms and stomach and quite a bit of cleavage as well as psychedelic bronzed boots with a modest heal. Her hair was pin straight and cascaded across her exotic features, making her, undoubtedly the most beautiful woman there that was A.) Actually referred to as a "woman" and not jailbait, and B.) Had the parts she was born with still attached and unenhanced.

Maria was leaning against the front of Lonnie's Escalade with a cigarette in hand in order to burn off the leeches that kept trying to attach themselves via their hard-ons. The scene itself was not unlike a lot of things she experienced when she had the chance to be wild and crazy, it was an atmosphere that was dictated by loud music, loud engines, and cheap liquor. The people were self absorbed, flashy, and desperate for attention in their gold and black jeans with t-shirts three sizes too big, or the painted on pleather pants with something not much more revealing than pasties on their upper halves. She wished for a moment that she could be care free like this again but instantly regretted it. She had Luca and that's all that really mattered to her any more. She couldn't imagine ever being that shallow again now that she had such a wonderful blessing in her life. Her emotional thoughts and teary memories were brought to a quick halt when she heard engines approaching over the raucous music on the abandoned highway.

There were four cars, more unique and extravagant than any others that were in the surrounding area. They weren't overly expensive models, because she could recognize the general bodies of the vehicles, but that was about it. The first car was black, pitch black, with an intricate design with sharp edges and deep curves of silver, blue, and purple, tracing from the hood all the way back to the rear bumper. The other cars though impressive and by far better looking than the rest around, had nothing compared to the feral aura of this car. They swooped in gracefully taking spots near the center of the lines of cars up and down the abandoned highway. Once the engines turned off it seemed that everything got quiet. The music was still blaring but everything became rather calm, as if there was no movement in the crowd.

Even Lonnie and Christine who were otherwise occupied were now standing at the hood of the Escalade with Maria waiting patiently for the crowd to become boisterous again.

"Man you see the shit they are packin?" Roofie whispered to Lonnie and Christine. Maria couldn't help but over hear some of it. As he went on a tirade of the different types of cars, name-dropping some familiar yet foreign brands and all the extra modifications Maria couldn't help it when her eyes glazed over. They all looked sleek, shiny, and dangerously fast and she couldn't tell much else about them except for those three factors. She thought, in this racing world, that those three things were all that mattered anyways. As long as you win and looked good doing it, it shouldn't matter what _kind_ of car you have.

At that moment, Roofie still mumbling away, five doors opened on the four cars. Jesse stepped out of a white one, Leon out of the deep blue one, Vince and Mia from the blood red one, and Dom, from the black one.

All of them looked different than she had last seen them. They appeared to be more serious, more dangerous, if you could believe it. When Maria saw Dom she felt extremely naked and self-conscious. When he was bombarded by skanks at every angle, the self-consciousness turned into rampant insecurity and she felt more like hiding than anything else. She pulled out another cigarette, grabbed a beer from Lonnie's hand and escaped to the back of the Escalade, pulling down the tail gate and settling herself there comfortably to wallow in self pity.

"This was stupid." Maria said as Christine hopped up next to her friend and took a sip of her beer.

"You're stupid."

"Your _face_ is stupid."

"Your…….fuck." Christine muttered. "Why is this stupid?"

Maria took a drag and started waving her arms rampantly, "Are your eyes open? Can you not see all of these skinny little girls with their asses hanging out and tits perfectly perky and alert? I'm a single mother for Christ sakes, I can't be doing this!!!"

"First of all, you're skinny and little plus your ass and tits look GREAT. Second, why not? You are just out with your spinster girlfriend who felt like reenacting high school and is trying to get you laid." Christine laughed patting Maria's bare thigh. "Really though. You look great. I'd do you in a heart beat."

"You do look great." Lonnie said.

"I'd do you." Roofie chimed in.

"Yeah me too." Donnie agreed.

Maria laughed and rolled her eyes. "So anyone up for a gang bang?"

The men started laughing hysterically and Christine giggled and eyed her friend in a new light. They were poking and prodding each other, cackling like fools when it suddenly got quiet.

"I thought that was you."

Maria froze, tugging her skirt back over her ass and adjusting her top to cover what she could of her breasts. Christine giggled as she climbed off of her friend and walked over to Dom, who was currently giving intricate hand shakes to the three towering black men they came with.

"I'm Christine. I'm the official cock block of Maria's life."

Maria choked on her beer.

"Nice to know." Dom said in that gravelly voice that poured over Christine like liquid chocolate.

Christine grabbed the three black men and tugged at them, surprising everyone when she actually threw them off balance and guided them away from the back of the truck. Dom approached and grabbed the beer that was sitting next to Maria's legs and took a sip.

"How's Luca?"

Maria smiled, how very gentleman-like of him to inquire about her son when no more than ten seconds ago he had a teenybopper with her tongue at his fly. "He's good. He's with his grandma."

"You have family around here?"

She shook her head, not trusting her voice, it was never easy to talk about her family, "Christine's mom. My surrogate mother, and Luca's grandmother."

He smiled, "That's cool. Are you guys staying for the races?"

"I guess." Maria said as she looked over her shoulder and saw four rather dark heads peering around the front of the truck. She laughed.

"Your entourage?"

She nodded. "What can I say? I travel in style."

He smiled in spite of himself. She looked amazing tonight. Albeit the first time he ever saw her she looked like a drowned kitten, but tonight was something else. He could tell she was self-conscious though she didn't need to be. She jumped off of the back of the truck and stood in front of him and he took all of it in. Even with her heels, she was only up to his chin or so. Her dirty blonde hair was in tight curls held back from her tanned face with pins. Her grey eyes were framed in dark smokey makeup that made them piercing and exotic. Her lips were dark, not like the hooker-red that most of the girls wore to these events, but a deep maroon, glossy and sensuous. Her tight little body was covered in a dark purple dress that was shimmery and snug on her curvy frame. Under her cropped leather jacket, the sweetheart neckline accentuated her perfectly sized and generous breasts while the design on the front ruched to one side and then fell loose at a short diagonal over her tanned legs. The longest part of the dress came down to just above her knee, the highest part was sinfully short and left just enough to the imagination.

"You look too classy to be consorting with us tonight. You should be at some sort of awards party making all the anorexic celebrities ridiculously jealous." Dom smiled holding out his hand for her to take.

She slipped her small fingers into his grip as she rolled her eyes, "Says the single most anticipated male in this entire gathering."

"Male maybe, but female, I think you've won that award."

"Please, Mia looks fabulous!" Maria scoffed; she smiled at Dom when his jaw went a little tight, "Of course, as a brother, you don't want to hear that."

"She changed into that skirt in the car. I don't know who to be more pissed at: her, for wearing that fuckin' thing, or Vince who let her wear it and allowed her to get half naked in his car."

She laughed, "That's a toughie, I'd say."

He smiled, "I want to go introduce you to my crew."

Maria laughed, "Crew? Well I guess that's appropriate considering the circumstances."

They walked over to the four cars that were now surrounded by lots of people, not only scantily clad women, but also brooding men, drooling over the cars and what they attracted. Vince was standing with Mia, he had his arm around her neck in an affectionate but non-groping way. When her eyes met Maria's they enlarged to about twice their normal size and Vince's jaw and arm dropped.

"When did Dom start holding hands with people?" Jesse snidely commented to Leon who started giggling.

"Maria!?" Mia shrieked and ran over to her brother. She wrapped her gloriously long arms around Maria's tiny frame and Maria officially felt dwarfed. Following behind them was Christine and her three men in black. Everyone started introducing themselves and shaking hands in intricate ways while Maria stood there a bit shell-shocked and hugged all of the crew. Jesse sidled up to her and snuck his arm around her in a playful way, Maria couldn't help but smile. The guy was adorable. If she had a pocket, she'd put him in it and keep him forever.

"You know, Dom always brings the prettiest girls in to meet me _after_ he's put his charm on them. He thinks, rather _knows_ that once they meet me that I'd ruin them for all other men."

She laughed whole-heartedly at that, putting her arm around Jesse's waist and he squeezed her shoulder.

"So you were the beautiful woman everyone was talking about these last few days?" He smiled and Maria blushed, she was small even compared to him. "I mean, I saw your drivers license and you even made their photography look good. My eyes are crossed in mine, wanna see?" He started digging around in his pocket and Leon came in and joined the conversation. The two men were charming and kind to Maria, something that she guessed was something they didn't get to practice often. Most likely being a part of Dom's crew had definite privileges. He only had the best of the best with him, and she doubted that it took much for all of them men to get into a single girl's pants.

"Will you stop pawing at her?" Mia growled, she pushed up off the car and grabbed Maria's hand and Christine's arm. "For once, _once_ I finally have females around with a fucking brain and you guys try to dry hump them when they aren't looking! Give me a break and allow me a few moments of peaceful conversation!"

Jesse, Vince, and Leon looked bitter. "You have five minutes, then the dry humping commences." Jesse said with half a smile.

"How's Luca?" Mia smiled, handing the two women beers.

Maria took hers and gulped down about half of it, "He's good. Staying with Christine's mom this weekend."

"How fun! So you are off for a few days? OHMIGOD!" Mia said excitedly, "We are having a party after the races. Do you guys want to come over? You can spend the night! I have a king sized bed and plenty of extra pajamas!"

"Like a slumber party?" Christine asked.

Mia smiled, "You don't realize how many dumb bitches I have to deal with. When I meet girls who can string more than four words together and who are actually funny – which hasn't happened in a few years – I'm sorry I go for the throat. You're officially my new best friends."

The girls laughed at that and agreed to join them for the festivities afterwards. As the group was happily getting along and chatting about different things, Maria noticed that Dom wasn't in the group. She looked around casually, pretending not to be desperate, and found him with a beer in his hand, leaning on his car a few feet away. He was watching her. Those dark eyes peering with unbound testosterone and sex appeal. Maria swallowed and tried not to have an orgasm on the spot. She smiled at him and he smiled back and waved her over. Christine noticed and gave Maria an impolite shove in his direction.

Another girl who was skinnier, with bigger faker breasts and lots of died hair had pounced before Maria could make her way completely across. The girl was leaning into his side and brushing herself not so inconspicuously against him. She noticed that he was nodding to whatever she was saying but still staring intently at her. Maria shrugged and rolled her eyes to the sky and Dom let out a slight chuckle. The girl paused her assault and turned on Maria.

Maria had seen some hateful glares in her life, but nothing, _nothing_ equated to the absolute look of stone-cold death this woman had on her face. The girl pushed off of Dom with a huff and started walking purposefully in Maria's direction.

She stopped dead in her tracks in front of Maria, between her and Dom and scowled.

"That's not an attractive look for you." Maria smiled genuinely.

The girls cocked her head to the side with a grimace on her face, "You know bitch, you think you're so fuckin' hot around here because you are fresh meat. Well just so you know, Dom doesn't take a lot of women that easy. He chooses the girls he wants and you don't look like the type."

"What's that? Fake-n-bake cheap?" Maria smiled. She hadn't gotten into a good catfight in a long time and she wondered if she still had it in her to intimidate the hell out of this dumb broad. "Look, I don't give a shit. I'm not _trying_ to sleep with him like every other female within a ten-mile radius. When you throw yourself at him like you just did of _course_ he'd fuck you and toss you away. That's what you do with cheap pieces of shit like yourself, you use them for what they are good for and then toss them the second that they stop working for you." Maria smiled, "And you, princess are a little girl playing a big man's game. Get over it and go fuck one of the other muscled bodies around. God knows they want an easy lay like you." She pushed past the girl who was left there with her mouth moving wordlessly and her arms crossed over her chest. She stomped her foot and turned on her heel, tearing out of the area while the entire group snickered behind her.

"Jesus." Dom said. "I don't know what you said to her, but that look in your eye made _me_ scared of you."

Maria smiled and leaned against the car next to him. "Well, I was just asking her how you were in bed. She said you were a lousy lay." And she took a sip of her beer. "I'm disappointed."

"In all honesty I might have been. Since I don't remember shit about her." He smiled.

Maria laughed, "You are such a slut."

He shrugged and took a sip of his beer.

Mia ran over quickly and hugged Maria tight, "I'm praising God for you right now. That girl has slept her way through all the guys to get to Dom. Its fucking sick." She whispered in her ear.

Maria laughed, "Well now that I know where your brother has been, I'm wondering how he is still here and hasn't been eaten away from whatever dick eating virus that bitch had." Mia chuckled and was pulled away by Vince and Christine back to the main group of people talking.

"So what brings you out here tonight?"

"I have your jacket in Lonnie's car."

Dom raised an eyebrow, "Really? I'll have to leave more clothes around your place if you look like this every time you deliver."

Maria laughed, "Christine made me wear this. I would have worn jeans and a t-shirt in all honesty. And wouldn't I have looked like a fool?"

Dom smiled, "Well judging by the boys reaction to you last time, as long as it is wet, they wouldn't have cared."

"Nice. Real classy." She poked at his side and he flinched.

"Hey don't poke me!" He said gruffly.

"Why? You ticklish?" She poked again, he flinched.

"I am not. And if you poke me again in front of this crowd, I'll throw you in my trunk and deal with you later." He growled playfully, grabbing her hands and pinning her to the car with his massive body.

"Promise?" She smiled, a playful look in her eye.

_WHAT DID I JUST SAY?_ She thought to herself. She kept her composure, trying not to laugh at herself too hard for being such a fucking nerd.

He smiled, "That was cute. But don't tempt me." He let go of her hands and gently kissed her temple.

Maria was glad she was leaning on a car, because otherwise her knees would have given out and she would have fallen to the asphalt and crawled under the car to scream like a little girl.

"Hey Dom!" Vince growled and Dom turned. The playful look in his eye went dead as he eyed the cars pulling up to park across from his crew. They were all the same car with slightly different paint jobs and a sticker across the back windshields that read "Mors ultima linea rerum est" in Old English font.

"Fuck." She heard Dom mutter under his breath.

"What?" Maria asked, peering around him to see the cars.

"Assholes. That's what." Maria smiled up at him. He did look pretty pissed.

"Seriously? Is this like a turf war? How_ old_ are you all?"

He scowled.

"No seriously. If someone pulls out a switchblade and walks over here to a beat snapping, I might just freak out. I'm too cute to be shanked through interpretive dance." Maria bit her lip to keep from laughing.

He gave her a grumpy look. The car doors opened and multiple people poured out of the small vehicles. All of them were dark. Not necessarily their skin, but their general coloring. They all had dark wavy hair of varying lengths and olive colored skin with large dark eyes. They were exceptionally graceful and beautiful. You couldn't call any of them attractive or even handsome; they were beautiful in the truest sense.

"Death is everything's final limit." Maria said.

Dom looked at her quickly, "What?"

She pointed to their car, he was still ungodly close to her, "Mors ultima linea rerum est. That's latin. Death is everything's final limit."

"Latin?"

"Catholic schools. Twelve years. I learned Latin and Spanish."

"Catholic school?" Dom smiled, distracted, "You have to wear uniforms?"

Maria rolled her eyes, "I went to an all girls catholic school and played sports my entire life, trust me since there were no boys we didn't try to look good during the week." She jabbed him in the stomach, "Weren't you fuming about something?"

He smiled, tracing her jaw with his finger, "I have an interesting thought in my head right now. I could give less than a shit about those fuckers."

She smiled while his eyes roved over her face. He dipped down and placed a slow kiss on her neck. Maria couldn't help but tighten the hold she had on his hips, digging her fingertips into his sides. He let out a soft growl that sent chills down her spine.

"Dominic Toretto as I live and breathe."


	6. Chapter 6

-6-

Dom let out another growl that was not as sensual as the one before. This one actually scared Maria a little bit. She was behind the wall of man and couldn't see past him as he turned to face the stranger.

"Enzo Sansone. Nice to see you up and walking again." Dom said in a less than pleasant tone.

Maria peeked out from behind Dom and saw the most gorgeous man she'd ever laid eyes on. Not that Dom wasn't insanely attractive, but Maria was actually jealous of this dark stranger – he was prettier than 98% of the women here tonight. His face was all sharp lines, with high cheekbones and a wide, full-lipped smile. His nose was large and broad, but it fit his face perfectly. He had dark wavy hair that hung short past his ears. His skin was smooth and you could tell how absolutely solid the man was by the way his t-shirt hugged his muscled frame. He was slightly shorter than Domonic but not by much. The most intense part about him was his eyes. There were such a deep brown that they were almost black and they were large and framed by huge fanning lashes. Maria swallowed involuntarily and tried not to drool.

"You know me," He smiled, his teeth glittering against his olive skin, "Can't keep me from the races."

There was silence as the rest of the crew began pouring in behind him. The women were all tall and leggy, wrapped around the many men who followed Enzo. A few of them looked much like him, but were off a little. This man looked like he was carved by the gods.

"And who is that peeking out behind you?" Enzo smiled, leaning to his side to get a better look at Maria.

She noticed that Dom's jaw tightened and she stepped from behind him and patted him on the back. She sent him a reassuring smile as she walked up to Enzo and stuck out her hand.

"Maria." She smiled, "I'm a friend of the Toretto's. This is my first night here so Dom and everyone have been showing me the ropes."

He took her hand and as she prepared to shake it, he lifted it to his lips and kissed her palm.

"Very nice to meet you. May I interest you in a ride?"

Maria laughed and Enzo had a flicker of absolute rage pass through his eyes. She stopped chuckling and stared at him for a moment watching as the flicker dissipated and he regained composure. _There's the old Italian temper I know and love._

"Easy there Stallone, don't get your pannies in a wad. I was just laughing because not even Dom has used that line on me yet." She pulled her hand away. His beauty was nothing compared to the intensity of the anger that passed through his eyes. He may have had that delicious shell, but whatever was on the inside, Maria knew, was not something to be trifled with.

"Well Dom has always been a little slow to act." He smiled.

He chuckled too as she pulled her hand away. His eyes left her for a moment and flickered back to Dom. She turned slightly to look at him over her shoulder and noticed that his entire body was tense, as if to spring into action and start a fight. Maria frowned and walked back over to him. She slipped her hand into his and squeezed. She saw how the tension rolled off of him and he looked down at her and smiled. She smiled in return and she heard Enzo clear his throat.

"Who's racing tonight?" He grumbled.

"Not sure yet. Iyala has yet to announce it."

As if on cue, the man known as Iyala walked up to them. He was also tall and broad shouldered. His skin was a russet color and he had pin straight onyx hair. He had wide cheekbones and thin eyes that made it easy to see that he was Native American.

"Evening gentlemen." He smiled and both men nodded. He was much larger than both of the men. He was probably taller than Lonnie, Donnie, and Roofie.

People started to crowd around Iyala, Dom, and Enzo. Two other men jumped into the race. They looked squishy and babyish compared to the two men who were now eyeing each other with something like disdain. Maria looked at all the people around them, focusing on different aspects of each of them. Most of them were all bravado, all flash and bang and nothing much else. Her attention was drawn back to Iyala when he started talking.

Mia crept up to Maria's side and began talking very low. Explaining a few things about Iyala. Her voice held something along the lines of admiration, but it could have just been a crush – he _was_ pretty cute.

Iyala wasn't one to race. He was the go-to man for information and assistance in anything involving New Mexican soil. His family was large; his mother's side owned a few Casinos and his father's side did construction. He was a nice, lively guy too, with a good personality that even had Dom and Enzo cracking smiles when they weren't trying to kill each other with the daggers they were shooting from their eyes. He informed them that the two other racers were prepared to throw down five thousand dollars for this race. Dom and Enzo smiled and nodded to Iyala.

"You think you can afford this race?" Enzo smiled, pulling out a large roll of hundred dollar bills and began plucking off each bill as if it were a petal of a very expensive flower.

Dom's jaw tightened again, "I'll afford a hell of a lot more once I take your money from you." He growled. He turned to Mia who was counting off bills from an envelope and handed Iyala the correct amount. Dom grinned a tight and evil smile at Enzo as everyone started cheering and milling over to the sidelines.

"Good luck Toretto. You'll need it." He said over his shoulder as he walked back over to the cars that were parked across the way.

Maria shook Dom's arms and he snapped out of his trance. "Relax Dom. No need to get into a pissing contest over me. I know I'm gorgeous and all," She said with a mock-hair flip that almost caused her to fall, "But I've decided to become a celibate race inhabitant because of the amount of scary looking concealer-covered cold sores all over this place." She joked and poked at his arm. He looked down at her, gazing into those beautiful grey eyes, and nodded.

"You want to be careful around him." Dom said a little too seriously. "He's big money with shady ties to mafia all around the west coast. God knows the mafia is a dying breed, but evidently his family keeps the fear alive and well in people's hearts."

Maria got a small shiver down her spine and she bit her lip. Dom noticed her eyes went a little glassy and he wondered what was going through her head. Right when he was about to say something, her vision cleared and she looked up at him, smiling.

"Well?" She laughed, "Go kick some ass!"

Dom turned to his car. Before he climbed in, he winked at Maria, which sent a bolt of heat straight to her nether regions. She smiled, winked back and he tore off to the starting line. She turned to see Christine, eyeing the Italian group that was sashaying over to the starting line with a glare.

Maria felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned, seeing Jesse standing there with a smile on his face. He reached his hand out to her and said, "Ready?"

She took his hand and they all began walking over to the starting line. The best thing about being out in the middle of the deserted desert of New Mexico is that you don't have to travel much to get a primo racetrack. This was just a mile stretch of abandoned high way – even the cops didn't care much about it since it was out of the way.

As they stood at the racetrack, Maria laughed a bit as she watched everyone get ready for the race. It was all revving engines, glaring at one another, and blasting your music louder than anyone else – it reminded her of those stupid birds during mating season on the Discovery Channel; each bird tried to have the bigger puffed out chest with the brighter colors and the loudest songs. She realized it was too much to hope for that human males were a little more sophisticated in their mating rituals and just laughed, hoping that one day, men would grow out of it and make a little more sense.

While she was standing next to Jesse and Leon who were yelling challenging obscenities at members of the other driver's crews, Maria felt someone slide their hand into hers. She looked down and followed the dark arm up to Christine's face – she looked concerned.

"We need to be careful." She said softly, "I'm hearing bad things about these people."

Maria frowned, "Bad, like what? Bad like they cheat on their taxes or bad like they put kittens on spikes?"

"Bad like, they tried to break hot stuff's knees over there and instead of paying off whoever needed to be paid off, they offed entire syndicates," Christine sounded frantic, "– families, and not just wives and children, but grandmothers, aunts, uncles, these people are fucking crazy."

Maria let out a slow even breath, "Fuck. You don't think they have ties to anyone else do you?"

She felt Christine shrug. They weren't looking at each other and they were conversing with low voices, tight lips, and closed teeth. "We just need to be careful. I doubt he's looking for you anymore. But…still. We should be careful."

"Well I think we'll need to be more than careful." Maria sighed, "That fucker won't take his eyes off me. He's not going to be satisfied with a 'No thank you, I'm allergic to Italian Cock.'"

Christine snorted. "Maybe you should just kiss Dom for real so he knows not to mess with you."

Maria smiled and looked over at Dom. He was gripping the wheel with one hand and looking very serious. He glanced to his left to view the other drivers and the corner of his mouth went up.

"I don't think that's how it works here. If I do that, it may make things worse." She sighed.

Christine scoffed, "For who? I would _love_ to know what an orgasm from that man is like – which I intend to know…After you sleep with him…And tell me every detail. Better yet! Record it!" Maria slapped her friend's arm hard, "Ow! Bitch!"

They both chuckled softly as the crowd grew quiet.

A girl walked in front of the cars that looked like she belonged to Enzo's crew. She was wearing a tiny jean skirt that was stretched taught across her rounded ass. Her shirt was barely there, conveniently covering what would get her arrested, but letting the rest all hang out. She had a belly ring, four-inch stilettos, a heart tattoo on her left hip and dangerous eyes.

"Skank-alert." Christine chuckled softly. "Look, heart marks the spot." Maria laughed too and smiled. In her peripheral vision she watched as the girl raised her arms and all the engines revved. But she couldn't help watching Dom; the look of absolute focus in his eyes, the serious line of his lips, the way his muscles moved as he adjusted his grip on the wheel. She saw his concentration break for a moment as he looked at her and smiled softly. She smiled back and the girl's arm began to fall signaling the start of the race. Before they fell completely, Dom winked at Maria once more, and then, with a roar of engines, he was gone.

"I think the less I'm involved with Dom, the better." Maria said softly, watching the cars fade into the distance at blinding speed.

Christine sighed, "Well there you go, being all responsible again. He doesn't _look_ like a homicidal maniac!"

Maria looked at her friend and laughed. At that moment, Jesse grabbed Maria's hand, Leon grabbed Christine and they all started running for the finish line.

_This is all so very _Grease_. _Maria thought idly as she tried not to break her ankle while running in those horrid shoes.

Once at the finish line, the drivers exited their cars and people started pouring in from all directions.

Judging by the amount of people per car, Maria believed that Dom was the winner. She smiled and hung back with Christine while the rest of the crew powered through the skanks to be next to Dom in his moment of glory. She watched as he was pawed at: kisses on his cheeks from the girls, high fives from the men and endless, endless looks of steaming envy – either for his car and fame, or the hope that they could be what he wanted in a woman for the night.

She was smiling, against her better judgment, as she watched Dom work himself through the crowd. She watched him take the money from Iyala and hand it to Mia to count. His head shot up and his eyes met with hers and for a few moments Maria thought she was going to spontaneously combust.

The grin on his face turned into a scowl, just a moment before her field of vision was blocked.

"Oh, what the fuck!" Maria growled, she looked up at the thing standing in her way and was ready to curse a blue streak, until she saw the face.

It was Enzo. And he didn't look pleased.

"So Maria, you enjoy the race?"

She stepped back, not letting him crowd her space, "Yeah it was interesting." She was half trying not to be rude, but also half hoping he'd get the point that she was not interested, by trying to peak around his body inconspicuously. She was a little miffed that her almost successful eye-fuck session with Dom was interrupted by this douche bag.

"I'm trying to talk to you." His hand shot out fast and grabbed her shoulder, at the part where it met her neck. She looked back up at him, scowling. There was a level of joking in his voice, in his smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. Maria tried to keep her composure, fearing the look that he had in his eyes. She shrugged off his hand, which was gripping a little too tight, and took a step back.

"And I'm trying to find my friends." She saw his jaw tighten, "Excuse me."

She pushed past him roughly, hoping it would bruise, and saw Dom pushing his way through the crowd. Once he was free he started walking towards her, his eyes over her head and focusing on a point behind her.

"You know Dom, you do seem to get the prettiest girls," Enzo said from behind her, "Too bad they're so easy to distract."

Maria saw Dom's jaw tighten and his face lose all semblance of humanity. For a moment, she saw the true rage in his eyes and knew that he was going to go after Enzo. She peaked behind him momentarily and saw that the boys were all too busy with women pawing at them to notice that Dom was about to let loose and kill someone with over fifty witnesses present.

She was still between them, with about three feet between her and Dom and about six feet between her and Enzo, when she saw Dom's hands tighten into fists and his muscles flex. Maria looked over her shoulder and saw Enzo's face widen into a sinister grin. She turned back towards Dom and before he could open his mouth to say something dark and threatening, she jumped at him, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and throwing him up against the closest car to them. She had him trapped up against the car – as good as any 5'2", 130-pound female could a 6'2", 250-pound man – and before he realized what she was doing (or she realized what she was doing for that matter) she pulled him down by the lapels and kissed him hard.

It took him a few seconds for recognition to hit and he responded finally, kissing her hungrily. Without a pause, his hand snaked into her soft curly hair and grabbed hold of a chunk at the base of her neck and tugged softly, tilting her head up and opening her mouth to him so he could taste her. She thought she heard someone moan and hoped that it wasn't her. The other hand was at her hip, his large mitt going halfway around her body and his fingers pressing into her sides. Maria responded happily, kissing him back for all that she was worth. His tongue snaked inside her mouth and touched hers and the sexual intensity of the kiss shot up to just below climax level. She bit at his bottom lip and he responded with a deep, rumbling, overly sensuous growl that sent shivers to all sorts of inappropriate places.

Someone let out a high-pitched wolf whistle and brought them back to planet earth. Maria did a mental check to make sure all of her clothes were still on and she pulled away from him slowly, leaving one last slow kiss on his lips. There was silence all around them, except for the blasting of music coming from other cars.

Maria looked down shyly, not wanting to meet his eyes just yet, scared of looking in them and seeing a reflection of what she wanted. So she peered to her side, over her shoulder and his arm to the crowd beside them. All of the men were staring with gaping mouths and bewildered looks of absolute flaming envy in their eyes – Maria was sure she saw Jesse's gum fall out of his mouth – and all of the women had firm looks of absolute loathing and severe disappointment, except of course for Christine and Mia, who had an arm around each other and were happily jumping up and down. Maria laughed softly and slowly looked up to Dom.

His face was the one thing she was not prepared for. His eyes were liquid and dark, he had half a sexy smile and was staring intently at her. No one but her.

"So…" Dom smiled.

Maria closed her eyes in embarrassment and dropped her head. She felt both of his hands release her body and for a moment she was scared he was going to walk away and go fight anyways. Instead, she felt his hands on her neck and jaw, tilting her face up to look at him. She kept her eyes shut.

"Open, please."

Maria tried her best to shake her head and she heard him laugh.

"Open, or I'm kissing you again."

She kept one eye shut and slowly opened the other looking up at him again. Nope, his amazing sexiness did not disappear. _Damn_, she thought.

He raised an eyebrow and she slowly opened the other eye. "Umm, I'm sorry."

He laughed again as he voices started to pick up again. Vince was yelling that the show was over and that there'd be a party at their place and everyone should start heading over if they wanted to get good seats for the main even tonight. There was a sharp slap followed by Mia screeching at Vince for being an insensitive prick.

"You are apologizing why?" Dom smiled.

She realized that she was leaning herself into him, their entire bodies up against each other, and her legs straddling one of his. He was leaning into the car and she felt like she had started climbing him. Her feet were barely on the ground so that she was able to press her hips into his as they kissed. She felt something stirring down there and stepped back slowly, stopped by his hands on her hips.

"I rather like this position." He smiled, pulling her back to him.

She put a hand on his chest. _Bad idea_ she thought. His chest was hard, his shirt was soft, and for a moment she saw herself sliding her hands under the material and scraping her nails down his chest just to hear him growl again. She shook her head, "I shouldn't have kissed you."

"You don't see me complaining."

"I just…" She sighed, "I didn't know what else to do. You looked like you were going to throttle Enzo and I didn't want you to get in a fight over me or over any girl who was stupid enough to sleep with him over you. Sure he's gorgeous, great body, great face, but he has eyes like Satan." She practically shrieked, "Once you get past the candy coated shell, you'll find a surprisingly nutty center! You'd have to be an idiot to sleep with him and expect anything more than getting yourself thoroughly fucked and used like Kleenex. And…" She took a breath, looking up at Dom and seeing him trying not to smile, "I'm talking a lot."

Dom was smiling now; gazing down at her, "Please go on. This was interesting."

She smacked his shoulder, "Shut it!" She pushed off of him and pointed a finger in his face, "I was just trying to keep the peace! I didn't want anyone fighting or getting shot or…anything. Especially because of me. I'm not the biggest fan of violence."

Dom scoffed, "Well if that's your way of protesting against violence, remind me to be violent a little more often."

Maria blushed.

Someone cleared their throat behind them and Maria turned her body, Dom simply looked over her head.

"We going to the party?" Christine asked, Mia waiting expectantly by her side.

Maria opened her mouth, but Dom responded first.

"Course you're coming to the fuckin' party. And this one," she knew that he stepped closer by the way her nipples got hard and everything around her turned fuzzy and warm, she felt his hands on her hips and he squeezed, putting his head down to her ear and saying in a tone that was anything but innocent, "Is riding with me."

Maria bit her lip hard, but the whimper came out anyways.


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm glad people are enjoying the story! This is my first fic that I've ever let people read so I'm super excited about it! I appreciate the reviews so keep them coming! If you have any recommendations or editing issues you see let me know! I appreciate all the readers!! I'm going back to school so this might slow down - or I'll just ignore my school work as usual and fantasize about Vin Diesel all day - haha!_

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-7-

The crowd was starting to dissipate and almost everyone was heading to the closest seven-eleven in order to pick their poison for the evening and head over to the party.

Christine had happily ditched Maria at the first sign of Dom showing interest, so Maria was now stuck – not so upsetting – with Dom as her escort.

Mia had told Maria that after the race was over and Maria had dissed and dismissed Enzo that his crew roared away without much thought. Maria was confident that she didn't hear the engines because of the thundering of her heart, in order to get blood flowing to all the necessary places. Despite Maria's attempts at pretending she was fine, she wanted Dom bad, and her body knew it.

Dom had walked her over to his sexy black car and opened the door in a very sexy way. _Fuck him_ she thought,_ everything he does is fucking sexy. It's annoying._

Now she was in his car and he was rumbling down the highway, headed back to their garage/home off the highway.

"You ever drive something like this before?" Dom smiled, breaking the silence and bringing back a flood's worth of nasty fantasies Maria was trying to block out.

She looked around the car, "No." She said simply. There were a lot of lights and gizmos inside the car. The lighting was blue, and was reflecting off of Dom in a very tantalizing way. "I had a BMW a while back. But nothing like this." She smiled, "Of course, my BMW could wipe the roads with this car."

He threw back his head and laughed, the sound bouncing off of the windows and echoing through the soles of her feet. "I'd like to see that. I really would."

"So…" She started, not exactly sure what to talk about. She was gripping the sides of her seat, and not because Dom was driving like a maniac, but rather, to keep herself from jumping across the center divider and attacking him.

"So." He said, matter-of-factly. "Why do you live in New Mexico?"

Her breath halted in her chest, "Why wouldn't I live in New Mexico?" She said quickly, "Its beautiful here. I have an ok job where I get paid good money. I also don't have to worry about too much traffic. I like the desert…Umm, anything else I forgot?"

He smiled, and shifted, the car pulled forward a little faster, "I wasn't trying to interrogate you. I was just curious. How's Luca?"

She smiled, happy that it was dark in the car so he couldn't see her blush, "He's fine. You already asked that."

He chuckled, "I know. I'm trying to make conversation. You're wound up so tight, I'm afraid you'll burst on me."

_Well that's one way of putting it,_ she thought and snorted. She froze and shot a sideways glance over to Dom, who was forcing his lips to keep from smiling.

"Did you snort?"

"Allergies!" She blurted out before the sentence was completely finished.

"Mmmhmm." He smiled. He reached his shifting hand over and laid it on the skin of her leg, just above the knee. His touch was light, soft, and incredibly warm. A noise escaped Maria's lips that was half whimper and half moan and she started coughing to disguise it. Not much luck there.

"So. Do you always have parties after?"

He smiled, "Yes. The kids are still in their wild and crazy days. I support it because I wasn't much better when I was that old."

"Wild and crazy?" She smiled, "How old are they? How old are you?"

"Mia is 21, Leon and Jesse are going to be 23 soon. Vince and I are 25. We all basically grew up together or filtered in throughout the years."

"Wow. That's pretty cool. The person I've known the longest is Christine, known her since…well High school, but it feels like forever." She smiled at the thought, "She's my best friend."

Dom smiled too, "Yeah, Vince is mine. When he isn't being a hot-headed dick, he's a great guy."

Maria laughed, "So like, three percent of the time?"

Dom laughed as well.

They rolled up to the house and the party was well under way. Dom parked his car in the garage and turned off the ignition. His hand went back to her leg and he was stroking her skin with the pad of his thumb. Maria was sitting rigidly in her seat and wasn't sure what to do next. In her head, she was wild, sexy and cool, but in reality, she was a blubbering mess and would probably end up breaking something if Dom made another move.

She realized he was staring at her intently, and she forced herself not to look. She let out a deep breath and turned towards him, her leg coming up onto the seat so she could face him better. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back.

"I'm not a slut." She said matter-of-factly. "I was pretty sure I'd never see you again, until Christine devised this plan in order to see you again. I don't usually flirt. And I don't think I've ever kissed on the first date – if you call this a date. Plus, I haven't kissed a guy in _years_. Years!" he reached up his hand and put a finger up on her lips.

"Shut up, you're ruining the moment." Then he pulled her face to his and kissed her again.

Goddamn gearshift, getting in the way and not allowing her easy access to climb on top of him.

"I don't think you are a slut." He smiled, "You definitely are not my usual type, however, I don't think that's a bad thing."

"I'm not gonna sleep with you."

He smiled and his eyes did that melting thing again and she felt her heart stop for a moment, "We'll see about that."

She punched him hard on the shoulder, "Domonic I am not some trashy whore!"

He was laughing hysterically now, trying to fend off her blows. He finally grabbed both of her hands and pulled her across the seat and onto his lap. Thankfully, he had such long legs that the steering wheel wasn't jabbing her in the side. He kissed her again; it was a serious kiss, long, tempting, and incredibly arousing. Maria found herself squirming on top of his lap trying to get a better position to kiss him. Her hands had stopped fighting and were now gripping at the sides of his face, scraping her nails across the back of his head.

"If you don't want to sleep with me, you better stop doing that," He growled against her lips. "I don't think you're a slut," kiss, "I actually like you," kiss, "You're incredibly amusing," kiss, "And its nice to be around someone genuine."

The kiss that followed that statement was softer, but still passionate, not as hungry as the ones before.

"I'm not going to pretend I don't want you in the worst way," He smiled and pulled her face away from his to look in her eye, "But you have a kid." Maria's heart sank at that comment and she felt herself starting to pull away, "Wait!" he pulled her close again, "You have a kid, so you are definitely not the kind of girls who I usually mess around with. You're a woman and I respect that."

Maria was frozen for a few minutes, "Shit, you make me sound old."

He laughed again and kissed her, "Now, since you _said_ you don't want to do anything I will respect that. But at the first sign of weakness, expect me to be all over you. I only have so much self control when you are wiggling around in that dress of yours on top of me."

She blushed again.

"Now." She said looking around, "How do we get out of the car?"

He smiled and basically picked her up and placed her in the passenger seat again with perfect ease. He exited the car and came around to open her door. When it was open she glared at him a little bit, "What's with the gentleman crap? I thought chivalry was dead."

He smiled and put out his hand to help her out of the car, "Its only dead when you have no one to work your charms on."

She smiled as he pulled her up effortlessly, "Yeah, I mean, how hard can it be when you have fifteen girls lined up on their knees in order to blow you." She rolled her eyes and blew some stray hair out of her face.

"See, that's why I like you." He smiled and guided her towards the house, still holding her hand, "You tell it how it is."

She smiled, "Maybe if you weren't such a slut, I wouldn't be so worried about sleeping with you."

He turned on her and pushed her up against the wall, "Babe, I'm anything but a slut. I use women like they use me. Its mutual." He pushed a leg between hers and pushed his body against her. Her hands found his hips and instead of her initial thought of pushing him away, she felt herself pulling him closer, "Plus, they all have the same cheap tricks they've learned by watching pornos. I wouldn't mind a real woman who knew what she was doing."

Maria thought of a few things she wouldn't mind doing with him and her breath caught in her throat when his head dipped down and he started kissing her neck, nibbling lightly on the tender skin.

"You're trying to seduce me." She said.

He smiled into her shoulder, "Do I really need to try that hard? I must be losing my touch." He said into her ear and gently licked the lobe.

At that moment, Maria was happy his leg was between hers, because she was pretty sure her knees turned to rubber. "Fuck." She said, her eyes rolling up into the back of her head and getting lost.

"Later." He smiled and kissed her again, pushing his entire body into her and letting his hands roam free. One hand slowly found its way down her side and was softly caressing the outside of her bare thigh. His hand snaked in, under her skirt and he had a handful of Maria's ass that he used to pull her to him. She moaned softly into his kiss as he rocked his hips into her slowly. She felt something rock hard pressing up against her and hoped it was a wrench in his pocket.

She finally got her brain stem back on track and pushed him away, "And I am definitely not fucking you in a garage. This is a _new_ dress and it cost me a fortune."

Dom pulled back and gave her a look of disbelief.

"Ok so it cost Christine a fortune!" She grumbled, "But still! I'm not in high school anymore!"

"So you've fucked in a garage?"

She pushed him off of her and hit his shoulder again, "Shut it! Man you really know how to kill a mood." She said, readjusting her skirt and top, hoping to god that her hair was still straight and makeup wasn't melting off of her face.

"My mood is very much intact." He smiled. She looked down and saw the bulge in his jeans.

"I noticed. And so will everyone else if you cant control yourself."

He laughed and put a big arm around her and started to steer her towards the house, "Don't worry. There's a pool already to see how long you'll last tonight before you are begging me for it."

"Ha!" She laughed and swung around him, glaring him in the eyes, "Fat chance. You want to make our own bet? I bet I can drive you crazy by the end of the night. You'll want me so bad, it will hurt."

He smiled and pulled her closer, "Oh I'm already there babe."

She laughed and pushed him off of her. "Fifty bucks! Whoever caves first, loses. And loser makes breakfast."

He laughed, "Deal."

He put out his hand and she shook it hard.

She turned on her heel and started walking towards the house, she smiled over her shoulder and said, "Get ready Domonic Toretto. I haven't gotten to use these skills in a long time and I've been saving up some new tricks."

He smiled watching her hips roll over her curvy legs, "I'm already excited."

The party was raging when they entered through the back door. The house was two stories and rather large, since it had to house five rather large and independent people without making them want to kill each other. The downstairs area had a roomy kitchen and a bathroom down the hall with two other doors. Maria assumed those were bedrooms and the rest of them were located upstairs. People were filled in from wall to wall with drinks in their hands.

She was trying to search out Christine and Mia, but was having a hard time of it since she was about six inches shorter than everyone there. Dom still had a hold of her hand and was pulling her into the kitchen to get them a drink.

Dom stopped abruptly in the doorway of the kitchen and Maria saw his shoulders moving in a silent chuckle.

"You wont believe this." He said.

Maria peaked out from around the corner and she saw Mia, holding a bottle of Petron, Christine, holding some Tequila Rose, Leon and Vince standing next to the table with beers in their hands, and Jesse laying belly up on the dining room table with his shirt off and four rather attractive girls licking his stomach.

"Dom!" Jesse yelled, rolled, and successfully fell off the table onto his face. The girls squealed and jumped out of the way and left the room giggling. Maria couldn't stop laughing.

Jesse was still shirtless and looked a little bit like a baby bird. He walked up to Maria pulling the first bottle off the counter and handing it to her, "Wanna try? Evidently I go real well with," he stared at the bottle, weaving slightly, "Bacardi 151. That's what all the bitches tell me," and he hiccupped.

Maria was still trying to contain her laughter while Dom started politely shoving Jesse back into the kitchen, "Get a shirt on kid."

Jesse pulled on his t-shirt, which conveniently clung to him because of the excess alcohol and juices stuck to his skin.

"Ok, time for shots!!" Christine yelled. The boys started clearing off the table and wiping it down from Jesse's game and everyone sat down at the round table. Maria was next to Dom, who was next to Vince, then Jesse, Leon, Mia, and Christine. Vince had plopped down a cold thirty pack in the middle of the table, and the girls had pulled over all the alcohol. Christine started pouring out shots of Petron and handed them to Maria to pass them down.

"Now since you missed out on the first hour of activities, you need to catch up." Christine smiled drunkenly at her friend, "Luckily, bitch, you have a much higher tolerance than I do so taking two shots of tequila wont hurt you as much as its hurting me."

Maria laughed, "Well Dom wasn't here either. He deserves two shots too! Actually he is at least twice as big as me, so therefore I think he deserves four shots!"

"Agreed!" Jesse shouted and pushed Mia's, Leon's Vince's and his own in front of Dom.

"What the fuck!?" Dom said looking around at everyone at the table.

"Don't be such a pussy!" Maria smiled and grabbed one of his shots and belted it down. Dom took this as a challenge and grabbed one of hers. Then it was a race to see who could drink the other person's shot faster while everyone else laughed around the table.

"So are we playing a drinking game?" Christine asked, sipping at her beer.

"I hate drinking games." Vince grumbled.

"Well I hate your stupid beard, so shut up! We're playing a drinking game." Christine growled at him and chuckled a lime at his face. Strangely enough, it slapped him right on the cheek and a big glob of lime guts slid down his face and got caught on said beard.

Vince growled and was about ready to stand up and start a fight, till Dom punched him in the shoulder and wiped the goo off of his face.

"She's 5'2 and Asian asshole! You think you gonna fight her?"

Vince grumbled something and Christine laughed.

"He's just scared cause he knows I'd kick his scrawny white boy ass!" She yelled and everyone else broke out into giggles, even Vince. "Ok, who wants to play twenty fingers?"

"Twenty fingers?" Jesse asked.

"Well the game is actually ten fingers, but me and Christine have to use twenty because we always lose." Maria smiled, sipping on her Natty Light.

"Ok so, _anyways!_ How you play is that each person holds up ten fingers right? Then you go around the circle and each person has to say something they've never done – usually its risqué or silly – you want to use something you either _know_ someone else has done or something that will embarrass the fuck out of people. If you have done the thing the person is talking about, then you put a finger down. The way we play is that, if you put a finger down you take a shot, if you are the person saying you've never done something and everyone in the circle has, then they all take two shots. If you say something that no one has done, then you take a shot, deal?"

"That's like, fuckin complex man." Leon said.

"Its really not that hard once you see how the game goes." Christine said. "Ok, ok! I'll start, I have never-,"

"WAIT!" Maria yelled, startling everyone around the table. "I forgot about the Ringer!" She said and slapped herself on the forehead. "This is the best part. If you notice that someone is lying then that means you can call them out. If you can prove they've done it, like names, dates, etc, then that means they have to take three shots for being a lying fuck."

"Awesome." Mia smiled, "You guys are all fucked! I've been around you guys sober WAAY too often and I know many of your dirty little secrets!"

Everyone started laughing and the game began.

Christine smiled, "I have never," she paused for some thought, "taken body shots off of anyone – except Maria, but she doesn't count."

That got a lot of raised eyebrows.

Jesse grumbled something and put down a finger. Followed by everyone else in the circle.

"Fuck!"

"Shit!"

"Sonofabitch!"

"MIA!?" Dom growled, when she tried to covertly put a finger down.

Maria started laughing hysterically while Christine started pouring shots for everyone around the circle.

"Shut up Dom! You are NOT allowed to give me shit for doing body shots when I've seen you do much worse!" Mia growled.

"Well that shut him up." Vince chuckled and then took his shot.

"Ok your turn." Christine poked at Maria.

"Alright." She put her finger to her chin and thought for a few moments. "I have never had sex in the back seat of a car!"

Everyone grumbled and put a finger down. Dom eyed Mia suspiciously.

"I don't like this game. I'm not into learning that my little sister is a slut." He growled, swallowing his shot.

"I learn from the best." She saluted him and belted hers back.

Leon started laughing and tried to cover it up with a cough.

"Your turn." Maria smiled and passed the bottle over to Dom.

"This will be amusing." Mia smiled.

Dom laughed, "I've never let a chick play with my asshole during a blow job."

There was a bunch of grumbles from around the table and Mia tried not to dry heave. Jesse's finger was the only one that went down. Everyone started at him in disbelief.

"Hey, it felt fuckin _great!_" He smiled and raised his glass to us and tipped it back in his mouth. Everyone started laughing and it moved to Vince's turn.

"I've never fucked someone that didn't live in the United States." He smiled. Dom and Christine put down a finger and that started up a whole new conversation while pouring the shots.

"I've never…" Leon started looking around at the table and trying to see who he could entrap "fucked someone who was underage!"

"Does it count if you were underage at the time?" Dom asked.

"Yes!" Everyone shouted. All the boys put a finger down, but the girls were still going strong.

Jesse pulled the bottle to him and smiled, "I have never been with a married woman. Or married person, I guess, since there are women here."

"Good cause I haven't been with a married woman in a long time." Christine winked, elbowing Maria as everyone broke into laughter. No one put their finger down.

"Vince you are a son of a bitch you know that!" Dom growled. "Now I only bring this out into the open because I _know_ being the brother that he is to me, he'd have done this to me extremely fast if the tables were turned. 1999, we were sixteen remember?"

Vince nodded, looking terrified.

"Our first night out with my dad in Mexico. You hooked up with Mrs. Berkowitz, our next-door neighbor Lizzie's mom! She was like, at least forty-eight!" Dom started laughing hysterically, while Jesse started pouring Vince three shots.

"Fuck you man." Vince growled while he took his three shots, "This game is fucked up."

"That's the point sir!" Christine smiled as she pulled the bottle in front of Mia, "Make it count."

Mia smiled, grinning evilly at the men around the table, "I've never lost a race!"

All the men grumbled bitterly.

"You've raced like two times!!" Leon whined.

"None the less, its true. Am I right?" Mia said looking at Christine and Maria. They both nodded.

"She's right." Maria said.

Jesse growled and grabbed his shot, "Well what about them? They've never raced before! You have to make one up for them too!" He swallowed it.

Mia smiled, "I've never given road head!"

Christine and Maria both slammed their fists down on the table and growled, "Give me the fuckin shot." Christine said and yanked two glasses over for the two of them.

"Road head?" Dom looked down at Maria.

"Eat me." She growled and swallowed her shot.

"Maybe later." He smiled and put an arm on the back of her chair, idly playing with the curls in her hair while the game kept going.


	8. Chapter 8

_to answer a few questions: No Brian will not be in the story :( I never thought he was hot enough for Mia - haha; The Letty story will be coming up - she isn't going to be the greatest person in this story nothing against her (I'm actually completely in love with Michelle Rodruiguez), I just wanted to try out a new OFC with Dom. The story will start developing a little more now that characters and relationships have been established. Once again I appreciate the reviews. More reviews means more self esteem for me equals more stories for you! Woot!  
_

_Enjoy this chapter...I know I did ;)_

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-8-

Now that Ten Fingers was over and everyone was thoroughly drunk and knew way too much about each other, the party had moved into the front room where people were playing a racing video game on the Xbox and others were content to dance around drunkenly to whatever beats were playing.

Maria was sitting on the couch, on top of Christine and Dom laughing hysterically. Maria had her arms wrapped around Christine's neck, but Dom wasn't so unhappy with being able to have his hands all over her legs and halfway up her skirt.

"So really Dom," Christine swallowed some beer, trying not to choke on it, "I mean look at this bitch? She's fantastic right?" She pointed at Maria.

"M.I.L.F." Leon said from the ground. Dom kicked him softly.

"I mean, she's a fucking MOM for shit's sake and she looks better than I do!!" Christine kissed Maria loudly on the cheek and then got a great big handful of Maria's breast.

"Hey! Watch it!" Maria yelled, slapping at Christine's hand. She saw Dom smiling and scowled at him, "Don't get any ideas."

He winked, "Wouldn't dream of it."

That was when Christine, as focused as always, shoved Maria off of her lap and into Dom's lap, "Do you have Rockband? I fucking _LOVE_ Rockband!"

"Yeah, I think its up in Mia's room." Jesse said. Christine started grabbing people and commanding that they go get Rockband and so they all made a run up to Mia's room, over the countless drunken corpses lying on the floor and using walls as their support.

Maria was now sitting on Dom's lap. When Christine had thrown her, she "haphazardly" landed, straddling Dom. She now had a hold of his shirt collar and was tracing her finger along the material at his neck.

"So, how's your end holding up?" She smiled, running the finger along his jaw.

He took a long sip of his beer, "I'm hoping to get so drunk that instead of tackling you and taking you upstairs, I'll just pass out and not remember anything. Then I'll win."

Maria scoffed dramatically, "Puh-leez! First of all, it would take kegs upon kegs to get you drunk. Second, I see that little glint in your eye. Third, I can tell you're about to break and I'd know just how to do that."

"Oh yeah?" Dom smiled, holding the beer in one hand and holding her hip in the other. He was gently rocking her on top of him. He loved the way her weight felt on his lap.

"Yeah." She smiled and bit her lip. A bit of her hair fell in front of her face and she blew it out of the way. She leaned in, pressing her body up against him and left a trail of soft kisses up his neck and to his right ear. She flicked the lobe with her tongue and then pulled it in between her lips and sucked on it. Dom chugged the rest of his beer and tossed the empty bottle to the side of the couch, clattering against whatever was on the table. His other hand went directly to her hip as he pulled her down on top of him and he pushed up a little harder. He heard her chuckle softly in his ear and then bite down on the lobe, not hard, but definitely not soft. He let out another growl and he felt her smile. She started speaking softly into his ear, describing some things that she'd like to do to him in great detail. She also mentioned some things that she would like him to do to her and he felt his entire right-side tingle. She pulled back slightly, smiling devilishly and bent forward to kiss him. She put everything she could into that kiss, licking, nipping, and sucking on his lower lip. Dom thought he almost lost it when she pulled his tongue into her mouth and started sucking on it with great intensity. While she did this, she dropped her hand between them and started rubbing his fast growing erection.

He took control for a moment and his hands found her short hair and held her in place so he could kiss her back. The hand dropped back to her hip when he realized she didn't seem like she was going anywhere and then the other hand snaked up her body and found its way to her breast. He squeezed it in his large hand and rubbed his palm against the soft fabric, seeing if he could feel a reaction in her. He felt her shiver slightly and then her nipple go hard through the fabric. His fingers found the gloriously little bud right as she climbed off of him.

She stood there, smiling, in vicious glory, her hands on her hips cocked to the side, "Did I win?" She said softly as the rest of the group came barreling down the stairs with the pieces to Rockband in their arms.

Vince froze as the bottom of the step and they all rammed into his back like a Scooby Doo cartoon.

"What did you _do_ to him?" Vince asked.

Maria smiled and looked over her shoulder to the group, batting her eyelashes, "Who, me?" she pulled off her jacket, threw it next to Dom and then walked into the kitchen. Christine was smiling widely.

"What. The. Fuck." Dom said in a very calm voice. He was still sitting on the couch and his hands still were tingling from where they were gripping into Maria's sides. His eyes finally looked up to see Vince, smiling back at Dom.

"You just got played." Jesse said from behind the group. "Now move! I wanna play Rockband!!"

Vince threw the rest of the stuff on the ground for Jesse and Leon to set up with Mia and Christine's help. He reached a hand out to Dom and smiled, "It looks like you already lost your bet. Now go claim your prize."

Dom grabbed Vince's hand and pulled himself up. "I think I love this girl. She just thoroughly fucked my brains out without either of us getting naked."

Vince laughed, "Yeah she must be the one." He pushed Dom in the direction of the kitchen and Dom stumbled a few steps over people lying on the floor.

When he reached the kitchen she was bent over in the fridge. "Do you guys not have water in here?"

"We have easier ways of getting wet around here." Dom smiled, leaning against the doorjamb.

Maria's head popped up behind the fridge door. "Oh that was yuh!" She started laughing hysterically. Her hair had been pulled up into a ponytail as best as it can be at that length and little wispy tendrils were framing her face and brushing her neck.

"Yuh?"

Maria smiled and bent down back into the fridge, "Something Christine's mom says in Vietnamese. It means 'fucking gross.'"

Dom threw back his head and laughed. He walked up behind her and got a great look at her bending over. She had great curvy, tan legs and a fantastically firm ass. He could see the rounded cheeks just below the skirt's hem and was trying to angle himself so he could see more.

"Quit it perv!" She stood up and turned around with seven beers in her hands. Dom was amazed that her little hands could hold all the bottlenecks between her tiny fingers. "I don't know about you, but I want to play Rockband."

Dom laughed and helped her with some of the beers, walking back into the front room just as the console was turned on and the game started up.

"Now I don't want none of this macho shit happening ok? Everyone is going to swap instruments after a song. After everyone has been thoroughly humiliated at least once, then we can all stick to what we like and what we're good at." Christine smiled, holding the microphone and her beer in one hand.

After Maria had handed everyone their new drinks, Vince had dimmed the lights and grabbed the guitar, and sat down on the couch. She was making her way to the other end of the couch when Dom slipped past her rather quickly, plopped down in the separate love seat and pulled her down with him.

Christine went first on the singing part, since she obviously had no shame left from Ten Fingers, and Mia was on drums, while Leon was on bass. Jesse was doing air guitar to the song Christine had chosen and all seemed well.

She was curled up next to Dom now. Her legs were draped over his lap and she was leaning back into the couch with his arm up on the back of the chair, while his hand drooped in and caressed the sensitive skin on her neck.

A few hours or so later, no one knew what time it was, let alone what day it was. People had picked themselves up off the floor and had disappeared into the night. Jesse was singing with all his heart to Bon Jovi while Mia slept on the couch, curled up alongside Christine, and Vince was leaning against the wall playing with one eye open. Leon was asleep with the bass in his arms, currently getting booed and drooling all over the controls.

"What can I say?" Dom smiled, "We party hard."

Maria yawned, "Yeah I can see that." She blinked her eyes open wide a few times and uncurled herself from Dom's side. She stood up and stretched a few awkward times, letting out a pleased moan that all her muscles were still in fact, working. She turned to see Dom, happily staring at her.

"What?" She smiled.

He stood up, "You're quite amusing you know that?"

"I've been told that before." She walked over to Leon's destroyed body and knelt down to search his pockets. "I really hope my purse is in your car, cause otherwise, it's gone." She pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She stood up and looked at Dom who was still gazing at her with that wolf-like glare. She held up the pack and the lighter and smiled, "Time for a smoke."

"Do you sleep, ever?" Dom smiled, following her as she walked rather sprightly towards the front door.

"I'm a bartender. So I have a really high tolerance, plus, I always work nights. I'm used to sleeping in the day – if I do sleep. I've been having sleeping problems for a few years now." She lit the cigarette and took a deep inhale.

"Interesting." He grinned. "I'm sure I could find a remedy for you not being tired."

She took another hit and smiled at him, rolling her eyes. "I can't believe you are that drunk. I'll admit, I'm shit canned, but I'm not drunk enough to believe _you_ actually believe that crap will work on me."

"That was a mouthful," He laughed, "No, I may be that drunk, but I'm not stupid."

Maria smiled and finished up her cigarette in silence. Dom watched her as she took her last exhale and then stomped out the butt. He opened up the door for her and then followed her in. They stood there, staring at the group that was all but dead on the living room furniture. Vince was still standing, sleeping against the wall with the guitar still strung around his neck. Maria stifled a giggle and went over to where Christine and Mia were sleeping and knelt down in front of them. She carefully coaxed them awake.

"Time to sleep. Lets get you up to the rooms." She smiled. Mia dutifully stood up and wiped at her face and started climbing up the steps towards her room. Maria helped Christine stand up and then helped her crawl up the stairs to Mia's room.

"Did you sleep with my brother?" Mia asked, as she started stripping off her clothes, not exactly shy around these two girls. She pulled out some pajamas and threw them at Christine and then pulled a tank top and shorts over herself.

"No I didn't." Maria laughed as she helped Christine undress herself.

"Damn." Mia groused as she fell into bed, clawing at the blankets and then getting under them.

"I can undress myself, thank you." Christine giggled and then dropped her arms, "But I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure."

"Absolutely not." She laughed and got Christine ready for bed and then pushed her in.

The girls sprawled out, leaving no room for Maria. She sighed and turned off the lights and closed the door. She made her way downstairs and saw Dom still staring at the three guys dead on the floor and trying to figure out what to do.

"Jesse is still awake, I think." Dom said. Jesse was sitting up on the couch with one eye open, fingering at the Xbox controller.

"Last man standing as always." He said, then stood up, and promptly passed out falling to the floor in a big heap.

"You get Leon and Vince. I'll turn off the system and get Jesse." Maria smiled. Dom grunted in agreement and grabbed Leon by the scruff of his neck and pulled up. He took the guitar from Vince and tossed it on the couch and then wrapped an arm around Vince and guided them into the bedrooms down the hall.

Maria had turned off the system and went over to Jesse to help him up. She got him up on his feet and he wrapped an arm around her.

"That was all a ploy for me to get you alone." Jesse slurred happily. "I'm glad it worked. I wouldn't want to have to beat up Dom in order to have you for the night."

Maria laughed and kissed Jesse on the cheek, "You'll always have my heart, Jesse." She smiled and patted him on the stomach. He let out a giant belch and started giggling, wiping at his face.

"Trust me, I don't think she could handle you Jesse." Dom said walking back in from the hallway. He reached for Jesse, but not until after Jesse planted a lazy wet kiss on Maria's lips. Dom took him down the same hall and deposited in his room he shared with Leon.

Once Dom was back in the front room Maria was sitting on the couch, finishing a beer. She handed half of an empty one to Dom and he took it down in a few gulps.

"Show off."

He smiled and put a hand out to her.

"They must not like sharing rooms." Maria said as Dom walked her up the stairs.

"They don't mind too much. If either of them has the chance to get laid, the other one usually just sleeps on the couch. Its actually rather comfortable." He smiled.

"You sound like you know from experience." She yawned as he guided her into his room.

"I've spent a few nights down there, yes."

"Hey! This is your room." Maria finally observed after he turned on the lights.

"I figured you didn't want to share with Vince and Leon is probably balls deep in Jesse right now. I know how Mia sleeps and there is barely enough room on that bed for her and Christine. I promise, this isn't a plot to get you in bed with me."

She gave him her best _yeah, right_ look.

He shrugged and smiled, "Alright it is. But you've already won our bet." He pulled her to him and kissed her softly, "In all honesty, I wouldn't mind fooling around a little bit and just going to sleep. I've been wanting to curl around your body all night and just hold you there until morning."

Maria pushed him away softly and walked over to the door without saying a word. Dom thought she was leaving until he heard the tell tale sound of the lock clicking home.

"Can I at least borrow some pajamas? You don't happen to have a t-shirt and a pair of boxers I can borrow? I'd sleep in my underwear but I'm pretty sure you couldn't handle that." She giggled. "On second thought, you have a bathroom I can use?"

He sat on the bed, "Down the hall, first door on the right."

She came back a few minutes later and her face was clean but she was still in her dress and heels. He had gotten down to a pair of boxers and his t-shirt and was smiling when she came in. She still looked gorgeous.

"Alright, I'm officially ready to get out of this shit. My feet are _killing_ me." She reached back and went to unzip her dress. Dom stood up and handed her a pair of old cut off sweat pants that he knew would be too big and a small t-shirt.

"The t-shirt is Mia's. I'm not exactly sure how it ended up in my stuff. Probably when Leon did the laundry." He smiled. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, "Let me help with that." He pulled the zipper all the way down her flawless back and smiled approvingly at the black lace underwear she was wearing.

"Alright over there big guy." She laughed. He went and sat on the bed and he made a big show of putting his hands over his eyes. He heard her laugh at that and couldn't help but smile. He didn't hear the sounds of clothes rustling or underwear being taken off and he was curious. He opened his eyes and peaked at her just in time to see her step out of the dress. He would have been a little more inconspicuous, but all of his blood rushed to his penis when he saw her there, standing in the black lace push up bra and lace boy shorts and her four inch heels. His hands dropped from his eyes while his mouth dropped open and his hands hit his legs with a slap.

Maria's head snapped up and she saw the look on his face and started laughing pretty hard. She used the doorframe for support while she composed herself.

"I'm guessing I should be the one feeling embarrassed, but I really cant scrounge up enough modesty to pretend I am." She smiled and stood up straight looking back at him, "I'll stand in this for ten more minutes if you promise to give me a foot massage."

"I'll give you more than a foot massage." Dom said with a growl. He was on her in a second. He had her scooped up and pinned against the wall in less than that. The entire three seconds it took, he was kissing her the entire time. She wasn't fighting him off either, he had her up against the wall and she had her legs wrapped securely around his waist, his hands holding her ass firmly in place and he pushed his entire body weight into her. Her arms were around his neck, holding herself up while he kissed her hard. "You can't do that to me." He finally said after he stopped kissing her mouth. He was now kissing her neck, her shoulders while her hands made designs over his neck and shoulders.

"I wasn't doing anything." She said breathily.

"You. In _that_. Does everything to me." He rumbled. He pulled her close to him and carried her over to the bed and laid her down, kissing her all the while. He stood up straight and removed his t-shirt and knelt down at the edge of the bed. He started undoing the straps to her shoes while kissing her legs, "As much as I want to fuck you in these things, it can wait. You've been in them all day and I don't plan on this being the only time tonight. Or ever."

Once he had her shoes off he kissed the rest of the way up her body, lingering on her hipbones, belly button, and the swell of her breasts. He climbed back on top of her and started kissing her again with a renewed frenzy.

"Shit. I don't know how much of this I can take," She murmured into his lips while she felt his erection rubbing against her.

He smiled into the kiss, "Oh don't worry. I'll give you plenty." He growled and in one fell swoop had her underwear off and on the floor. He slipped his off and saw Maria's eyes watching him.

He was huge. And she was almost terrified. She hadn't had sex in years and the thought of him inside her not only excited her but also scared her. Tonight would be ecstasy tomorrow, walking, would be a bitch.

As if he could read her mind he chuckled and knelt in front of her and dipped his head between her legs and kissed the insides of her thighs. Maria was already shivering from head to toe when he flicked his tongue up her slit and she sucked in a huge breath of air. She heard his deep laugh rumble right before he put his mouth on her. He started off slow, nipping and licking gently at her, enjoying immensely the taste of her skin and the sounds she was making in rhythm with what his tongue was doing to her.

"Jesus." She said in a soft, sensual voice, "Fuck." It was said much the same. He continued to swirl his tongue around her clit and slipped a finger inside of her, reveling in how absolutely wet she was, pushing it in and bending it to find just the right spot. He started rubbing inside of her and licking the rest. He knew he reached the right spot because her hips were now rolling to him. He smiled and pulled his finger out slowly and moved his lips over the swollen nub and sucked on it gently. This caused a new sort of moan to come out of her. Nothing like the bubbly girls he had fucked before they were all just making noise to consume oxygen. This moan had a purpose and it was making him dangerously hard. It was deep and sensual. It was almost as if he could feel it roll through her body. He dragged his tongue along the slick wet folds one last time before he made his way up her body, removing her bra in the process.

He kissed her softly, rolling his hips into her and feeling her wetness all over him, "Not to ruin the moment, but are you on anything?"

She opened her eyes slowly, "You weren't going to use a condom?"

"I always do," He growled into her shoulder, "But feeling inside of you has made me want to do something I've never done before."

She kissed him softly, "I am." She said simply and then he slid inside of her, slowly, an excruciating inch by inch.

They both moaned in unison once he was all the way inside of her. He was the biggest she had ever seen, let alone have inside of her and her eyes teared up when he pushed himself all the way in. Dom was biting his lip to keep from coming on the spot. She was so incredibly warm, so ridiculously tight it was fucking with his head.

He kissed her gently and his lips went to her ear, "I'll go slow."

He started kissing her gently, barely moving inside of her so she could get used to him. He was on his elbows with her head in his hands, and her arms were under his, wrapping around his back and gripping at his sides as he moved. He was looking into her eyes, kissing her softly waiting for her to be comfortable around him. He felt her get wetter as he started to increase his thrust, kissing at her neck and jaw. He kept this pace for a few minutes until she started whimpering. He was nervous that he had hurt her until she moaned.

"Faster." She said softly, into his shoulder. He increased his thrusting and her legs spread out wider for him, so he could move freely and go deeper. He fisted his hands in her hair and kissed her wildly, loving the way her small body conformed to his and her hips and chest alternated in a rhythm that had him going absolutely crazy. Her nails were digging into his back and he growled into her ear.

"Oh my god." She barely whispered and he bit into her shoulder. His thrusts increased in speed and he dropped his hands along her body, twisting her nipples on the way down. He grabbed her legs and wrapped them around his waist while he continued to pound into her, loving the moans and the pleasured yelps as he continued kissing her mouth and her neck. He slowed down slightly, and pulled her up so that she was on top of him and he was sitting back on his calves. She unhooked her legs and put her feet down near his and began rocking into him as he continued to slowly guide himself in and out of her.

"God you are fucking amazing." He growled, his hand roving over her chest and stomach.

She kissed him hungrily and growled back, "You have no idea." She clasped her hands behind his neck and extended her arms, wrapping her legs around his hips again and leaned back, rolling her entire body into the thrust. He watched as her large breasts heaved with effort and her tiny frame rolled in his hands, as her hips did amazing things to make him feel every single inch while being inside her. He bent his head down and took one of her nipples into his mouth, licking and sucking on the areola, biting a little less than roughly onto the hard tip.

She let out long moan, followed by some high-pitched breaths and he felt her tighten around him. He noticed that she was only slightly slowing down, so he held onto her hips tight and kept up the grinding rhythm that she had going.

"Oh faster please," She said closing her eyes and biting her lip. He started rolling his body into hers and slamming himself deeply into her when their hips connected.

"Come for me Maria." It was more of a demand than anything. And Maria felt the words roll off of her body. With another thrust and a bite on her nipple Maria let go of the most powerful orgasm she had ever experienced, she let out a soft startled cry, while it overcame her body and felt the heat rush from the center and spread out to the tips of her fingers and the soles of her feet.

Dom pulled her close to him and kissed her while she was pulsating around him, "Fuck you feel so good." He growled and kissed her hungrily.

"Shit." Was all she managed to get out. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders holding his face to hers while she kissed him greedily. He smiled into her kiss and she laughed softly, "Your turn?"

"Fuck yeah."

He picked her up easily, while staying inside of her and laid her back down on her back. He took one of her legs and put it over his shoulder and thrust into her.

"Oh fuck." She said, with a smile on her face.

He grabbed the other leg and moved it into the same position on the other shoulder. He began thrusting with a constant quick pace, pushing himself as far as he could possibly go inside of her in order to hear her say his name over and over again. He loved the way she said it while he pounded into her. It was the most amazing sound he'd ever heard. With this position she was so much tighter than before and so much wetter after her orgasm that he was having a hard time not focusing on the way she felt when he pushed his cock inside of her. He reached his hand down and started rubbing her clit while he was thrusting and he felt her tighten again. She came with a loud moan and he let himself go after feeling the perfection of her orgasm over him again.

He dropped her legs and fell on top of her, holding himself up so as not to crush her.

"Jesus." She said while he wiped her hair out of her face and he kissed her.

"You read my mind."

"Jesus." She said again. He started chuckling and she grimaced. "You're still waaaaay too hard and I'm still way to tight for you to be doing that." She smiled.

"You got that right." She felt him twitch inside of her and he started moving again.

"Seriously?" She said while he started the movement slowly.

"Abso-fucking-lutely." He crashed his lips onto hers and they were at it again.

"Does…..this….mean….I….wont….get my….foot massage?" She said between his thrusts.

"Later." He smiled, and licked one of her nipples, "Much later."


	9. Chapter 9

_I FINALLY figured out to look at the reviews, I got the email updates, but evidently I had missed plenty of them! I'm sorry everyone, I'm an idiot!! Thanks so much to all of you I am so glad you are enjoying it!! I'm glad you're liking Maria too, cause she's definitely a favorite character of mine already haha!_

_PS: My best friend actually used the line "Hi I'm ____ and I'm the official cock block of her life." To a boy I was dating…no fucking lie._

_PPS: Thanks to Jamie and Kita for being avid readers – I am SO glad you are enjoying it!!_

* * *

-9-

Maria slowly woke in a very dark room. She looked over to her side, in her sleepy stupor and saw that black out curtains were hung over the windows. She wiped at her face, hoping to wake up and went to sit up when the pain hit her. Then she remembered what she had done and it put a smile on her face. The pain was soooo worth it.

She looked to the other side, where the rest of the bed was, and saw the giant naked form sleeping in it. He was beautiful. His body was in perfect condition, his muscles hard and his caramel skin smooth. He didn't move or toss in his sleep, he just took long, deep breaths that seemed to rumble in his lungs and shake the bed. She scooted closer to him, as close as she possibly could without touching, and watched his features.

The face that was usually all tough and scowling was now peaceful. She noticed the broad curve of his nose, his high cheekbones, his large eyes with thick black lashes, and especially his wonderful lips. She desperately wanted to touch them and to kiss them again, but she realized she might need to let him rest. After all, Maria was pretty sure they didn't go to sleep until about four hours ago. She lifted herself off the bed and slid to the ground where she started picking up traces of clothing. She found a pair of cut-off sweatpants and a t-shirt – God only knows what size it was, but it felt like a tent. She pulled the sweat pants over her legs and rolled them up so they were basically capris on her (probably shorts on Dom) and then pulled the shirt over her head. She tied the shirt at the waist to keep it from going down to her knees and then snuck out of the room.

She tiptoed down the hall, understanding that no one else in their right mind would be awake at this hour in the house and found the bathroom. Once she got into the rest room and flipped on the light, she was shocked by the figure in the mirror. Her perfectly sculpted hair had gone awry during the night's activities and her lips looked slightly swollen – most likely from the amount of blood that was pumping ferociously through her body during the long hours of the night. She couldn't help but notice that the smile on her face wasn't diminishing though she stretched and groaned trying to stretch out muscles she had forgotten she had until last night had put them to good use. She stripped off her shirt and removed her pants and took a good look at herself in the mirror.

She wasn't overly skinny like most women tried to be these days. She definitely had curves and she liked them. It had been a while since she actually felt healthy and happy and her weight was showing it. She had never been extremely skinny, but there were dark times in her life where she had dropped below one hundred pounds while doctors had told her that a healthy weight for her was around one thirty-five. Her body was not extremely muscular, but it was toned. She liked working out and knew that she had to keep in shape if she wanted to protect herself and her son. Her thoughts strayed to Dom once more, trying to assess the situation. She tried to make him fit into her life but realized it wasn't a real possibility. He was a guilty pleasure she had let herself indulge in and that was it. Most likely, after last night she'd probably never see him again and he'd probably forget about her after the waves and waves of pussy flowed over him every weekend. But she still couldn't bring herself to regret what they had done the night before. Sometimes, you just need a good fuck. And she hadn't had one in….well, ever, really.

While she was stretching out she noticed a few bruises on her shoulders and couldn't recognize what they were. One she quickly realized looked like teeth marks. She put her fingers to the marks and laughed quietly. She had never ever had the strange feeling of being happy about a bruise – or perhaps proud of it. She rinsed her race off and ran wet fingers through her hair to try to get it all under control and pulled on the clothes once more. She turned off the lights and walked over to Mia's room and opened the door quietly.

Mia and Christine were practically tangled in each other. They were of mess of dark hair and dark skinned limbs tangled under the bed sheets in a heap. They both looked rather peaceful and dead to the world so she closed the door and made her way back to the room.

Once inside she closed the door and let the clothes fall away from her again. She climbed in next to Dom and cuddled up against his warmth. He growled softly and wrapped his big arms around her and pulled her close to him and kissed her on the forehead. While she was curled up around him she felt something twitch against her lower half. She tried not to laugh but had a hard time stifling the giggle.

"Why are you even awake? Aren't you tired?" He rasped in his hung over morning voice that was actually deeper than the one he normally spoke with.

"Of course I'm tired. I'm also falling apart because of you. I just don't sleep all that much." She smiled, kissing his shoulder. The twitch was bigger this time.

Dom growled.

Maria smiled against his skin and pushed him onto his back. Her upper half was on top of him while her legs were next to his. She was bent over him, kissing and nipping at his neck and chest while his hands lazily traced over her back. He growled again and pulled her completely on top of him, his hands roving through her hair and his mouth searching for hers.

"Aren't you tired? Why are you even awake?" She mocked his gravelly voice as he continued to kiss her neck.

His hands went to her hips and he lifted her up and positioned her over his dick and pulled her slowly down. She couldn't help but moan and bite her lip to keep from practically screaming his name. Was it possible to have an instant orgasm? With him, most likely.

"_That's_ why." He growled. He started moving her hips for her while she got accustomed to him but at one point she grabbed his hands and pushed them away.

She looked down at him, smiling playfully, "Sit back and enjoy the show big guy. It's my turn for control and fuck all if you don't like it."

He laughed softly and put one hand behind his head and let one hand trace over her breasts and stomach, teasing and rubbing against the most sensitive spots, "I like a woman in control."

She kept her rhythm smooth. She was absolutely enthralled with the way he completely filled her and how the end of him seemed to melt inside of her. She didn't think that it was possible for something that big to fit in an area that small, but her body wanted him so bad that she wasn't surprised it made an exception.

"Of course you like a woman in control," She smiled, her eyes closed and biting her lip while his hands moved back to behind his head and hers rested on his stomach, "All you've ever had were a bunch of teeny boppers." She moaned softly while she rode him, her pace picking up a bit. She opened her eyes to watch him and found that his breathing was coming faster now and he had that wonderful look of absolute temptation in his dark eyes.

"Can we not talk about them?" He smiled, "I'm a little busy trying not to roll you over and fuck your brains out. You're driving me insane."

She smiled and flexed some muscles down there that made his breath catch in his throat.

"Fuck." He rasped, "Don't do that again."

She smiled again, biting her lip. She bent down to lay her body flat against him and kissed him hungrily, "Oh yeah?" _Flex._

She caught him biting the inside of his lip and she giggled. "You need to learn patience. It isn't always about the finish line." She smiled and sat up, "Sometimes its just nice to feel someone in you, against you, around you." She started moving her hips in a slow circular motion and he let out a growl.

"Jesus." He said softly. She was rolling her hips and squeezing her muscles in a very constant, slow, and maddening rhythm. He finally grabbed her hips and helped her get a little deeper into the rhythm, pushing himself a little harder inside of her and joining her rhythm so he could feel every centimeter of her around him.

"Oh shit." She said softly. He sat up and she wrapped her arms around his neck while his hands strayed all over her body, he held her close and told her to hold on so he could get getter purchase. He moved them so his back was up against the wall and she was sitting on his lap facing him.

The sex was getting hotter and more intense by the second, though the movements were still painfully slow. He was letting her do most of the work while he slowly moved in and out of her. Her moans were increasing and he was having trouble holding on.

She kissed him deeply and stretched out his name to a few syllables and he felt her tighten around him and he couldn't stop himself. Their orgasms crashed over them at the same time and he held her close to him while she shook and he pulsated inside of her.

"I stand corrected." He muttered into her ear and kissed the sensitive skin just below it. Her skin was soft and tasted salty and sweet from the intensity of the sex. He could feel her body was covered in a sheen and it was mixing with his as they held each other.

She smiled and leaned back a little to look him in the eye, "Fun right? I've never gotten to do that."

His eyebrow rose, "You've never done that before? Your telling me that was your first time doing that?"

She shrugged, "Well, yeah. I don't have a distinguished sex life, like yourself. But I wont pretend I haven't thought about it a lot." She laughed.

"I can't wait to be around once you practice more." He smiled, "Actually, I'd love to help you as much as possible. Consider me your lab rat."

She laughed and he helped her climb off of him, since he was still rather hard and she was extremely sore. He laid her down on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her neck and with the sunlight coming in around the black out curtains he noticed the bruise on her shoulders.

"That's one I haven't seen before." He smiled and traced the lines with his fingers.

"Yeah," She chuckled, "I haven't had one of those before."

"Did that hurt?" He said, more serious.

She shrugged, "Not in a bad way I guess. I mean, I don't remember it hurting so much I wanted you to stop. If you were _trying_ to hurt me, I guess it would be different. But it's a battle wound. I don't mind it." The end of her sentence was much more delighted than the beginning. He was tracing her body again, letting his fingers explore every curve when his fingers crossed over a thin slice of raised skin.

He felt her noticeably tense up at that and wondered how he had missed it before – but he realized he was a bit preoccupied the last time his hands were tracing over her body and this scar wasn't that noticeable.

"What's this?" He said softly into her ear, "To far down to be your appendix." He smiled.

She was still extremely tense in his arms and he started touching her lightly again, letting his fingers trace patterns on her light skin and she seemed to loosen up, "Another battle wound." She said softly, "From a long time ago. From someone very different from you."

"Luca's father?"

All she did was nod. He respected her silence. He had heard her tell Mia that he was dead. Thought she presented it as though it wasn't a bad thing for whatever reason, he knew it had to have some affect on her. Death isn't easy to deal with – he knew that first hand. At the same time he wondered if that time it was meant to hurt her and he felt a surge of anger. He felt extremely protective of her for reasons he couldn't understand. He wanted a claim to her and was happy that she wore some battle wounds on her that were because of him – obviously, he never wanted to hurt her, because if she said stop, he would in an instant.

She was silent while all of this was going through his head and she wasn't facing him. They were spooning and her back was to his front. He rolled her over in his arms and looked at her. Her eyes had a level of coldness he had never seen in them before and her mouth was a thin line. She didn't look upset or even sad – she simply looked, blank.

He kissed her softly and her mouth wound around his and he enjoyed tasting her and feeling her lips and her teeth playing with his.

"Hungry?"

"Famished," She smiled, "Plus, you owe me breakfast."

He laughed and helped her up.

Much to her surprise, Dom refused to let Maria help him with breakfast. He was at the stove now, managing about three different pans with pancakes, eggs and bacon on each one. Enough to probably kill a person, but she assumed that everyone would be getting up soon, so he would have to feed them too.

"So, how long have you been in New Mexico?" Maria asked, sipping her coffee.

Dom was flipping something in the pans, "About two years or so now. We moved out here from L.A. Had to leave a lot of stuff behind back there. Too many problems with too many people."

Seemed fair enough. "Have you always been working on cars?"

He started talking about his past and his family. His mother died young from cancer and his father had a career on the professional racing circuit. That left Dom and Mia to fend for themselves for a long time. Dom had quit after high school and started helping his father out at the track, taking classes for his G.E.D. in his spare time. Mia was trying her best to get through school alone and successfully completed high school. Once she had graduated high school, their father had died in a racing accident.

"That's when I lost it. Completely." He said, his light tone now fading into something much darker. "I took a wrench to the racer that caused my dad to skid out and crash. I couldn't stop myself. He was everything to Mia and me and he was gone, in an instant. Everyone said he died instantly, but it's hard to believe. I would have tried to pry him out of the car if they would have let me." He looked over to her and noticed that she had tears in her eyes and she was looking at the table, "After that, I was banned from the races and I ended up doing two years in Lompoc for assault. The guy almost died. I don't even remember hitting him. I just remember that I could barely move when I was done. He actually survived. After I saw what I did, I'm surprised."

Maria had a tight grip on her coffee mug and she wasn't sure what to say. "I'm very sorry for your loss." She muttered quietly, trying to keep the tears from spilling out. She knew what it was like to lose a father, to lose a family, and she wouldn't wish that pain on anyone.

He chuckled softly, "That's a great way to start out your day, isn't it? I didn't mean to be such a downer." He smiled, but she could see his heart wasn't in it.

She put her coffee cup down and walked over to him. He was still facing the stove, only wearing a pair of sweat pants and nothing else. She was wearing the cut offs and a t-shirt and felt like a child compared to him. She wrapped her small arms around his waist and held tight.

"You aren't a downer. Bad shit happens to a lot of people." She kissed his back, "I know that from personal experience. What matters is that you came out of it not turning into a monster. At least that's what I see. You love your sister. You love your new family. You may be wildly promiscuous, but I can overlook that." She felt him laugh.

"You don't think I'm a monster? Even after what I did to that man?" He said. It was always hard to stop the story once it was started. He didn't want to tell her fearing that she would be terrified of him. But he wanted to tell her because he felt like keeping her. He couldn't shake the fact that her arms fit perfectly around his waist and all he wanted to do was take her back up stairs and forget about breakfast for a few more days.

She shrugged, "We all do things we aren't proud of. In all honesty losing someone like that can do terrible things to a person. I don't exactly applaud you for it, but I wasn't there. I don't know what your life was like with your father. It seems to me you lost everything in an instant and you didn't know how to cope. Some people drown themselves in booze, some people do drugs, some people kill others, and some people beat their wives. I can't say I approve because I don't understand it. You handled it the way you could and you suffered the consequences."

He sighed, "You sound like you know a lot of this from experience."

She bit her lip softly and pulled her arms away and went and sat back down at the table. She sipped on her coffee and tried to calm herself down. It wasn't just an experience for her, it was her life. "Yeah, I know something about that."

"Do you mind if I ask how?" Dom said, taking the eggs, bacon, and pancakes and piling them onto rather large serving dishes.

She shook her head, but he wasn't looking. She took a deep breath and tried to relax, "I lost my family too. My mother left us a long time ago. She met my father when they were young and crazy and doing drugs. He climbed out of it, but she never did. Once she had me, she left me with him and took off. I still have no idea who she really is because my father never talked about it. I didn't ask him to. He had trouble coping, he drank a lot, but wasn't a bad guy. He took care of me like any single father would. Unfortunately, he was murdered when I was only sixteen."

Dom froze, bringing the plates to the table. She looked especially vulnerable and terrorized at that moment. The empty look in her eye returned and he noticed that her lip was trembling just slightly. She shook her head and looked up at him, the visions in her head gone for the moment. He put the plates of food down and grabbed some paper plates and utensils and started bringing out all the condiments for the food. He sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. She was so tiny and yet survived all of this. He couldn't begin to think of what she had to go through.

"I'm sorry. I don't even know what to say to that." He smiled softly.

She smiled brightly at him, pushing back all of the dark images trying to attack her senses, "No one really does, but I survived. Luca is here. I'm not too lonely anymore." She squeezed his hand.

"That's a good thing." He said and started shoveling food onto his own plate. She started doing the same when there were a lot of noises all around the house. Doors opening and shutting, people groaning in immense pain, and finally people started to filter into the kitchen, eyes barely open and looking like death.

"Mornin'." Dom said sipping on some coffee when Mia walked in, followed by Jesse and Christine. They were all still in their pajamas, looking like they hated the world.

"Fuck you." Jesse grumbled and pointed at Dom, and walked over to the coffee machine. Mia pulled out the aspirin and Christine took the cup of coffee from Jesse, grabbed some Tylenol from Mia and sat down next to Maria and started picking food from her plate.

Maria laughed and wrapped an arm around Christine, rubbing her head and helping her get food, "Fun night?"

"Yes." She said matter-of-factly, "But I want to die."

"Me too." Mia said, still standing at the counter, waiting for a cup of coffee from Jesse.

Once they sat down, Vince and Leon strolled in, wearing their pajamas and sunglasses.

"It's way too fucking bright in here." Vince growled, grabbing a plate and piling on food.

Maria ate a large amount, but it was nothing compared to the amount of food Dom and Vince piled on. And Dom was still going strong. Leon didn't even say a word. He just grabbed some coffee and sat down, leaning against Mia who was staring at the table, trying not to throw up.

"I'm never drinking with you again." She pointed at Christine.

Christine and Maria just laughed. "Not my fault you cant handle your booze." Christine smiled.

"You puked it all up last night! That doesn't count!!" Mia growled.

"Hey," Christine said, grabbing Leon's glasses, since he had obviously fallen asleep and put them on her face, "Puke and Rally."

Everyone laughed at that and woke Leon up, who instantly started cursing angrily. He reached across the table at Christine who held her face out of arm's reach so he couldn't get his sunglasses back. After a minute or two of scuffling, Leon just dropped his head on the table.

"I hate you." He grumbled pathetically.

After everything was eaten that wasn't nailed down, Dom stood up and started collecting dishes. He tossed all of the paper plates and put all of the utensils and dishes into the sink and turned on the water. Maria automatically stood up and pushed him out of the way – surprising him and making him stumble to the side.

"I'll do the dishes." She smiled and grabbed a sponge.

"I'll help." Christine said and stood up, already feeling much better.

"I'm gonna crash on the couch." Mia said and took the rest of the men with her. Dom smiled and made a dismissive gesture and followed them out to the front room.

Once he was out of earshot, Christine smacked Maria on the ass with such force, Maria yelped and fell against the counter.

"You bitch!" Maria rasped and pinched her friend on the back of her arm.

Christine squealed and slapped at Maria's hands. Once they were finished being twelve, Christine crossed her arms and stared at Maria, smiling.

"What!?" Maria growled, continuing to wash the dishes.

Christine shook her head and laughed, "Slut."

Maria dropped one of the pans and it made a horribly loud clatter that received a groan from everyone in the front room. Dom asked if everything was ok and they yelled back an affirmative.

"Am not!" Maria said indignantly. Christine just chuckled and started helping her friend rinse the dishes and stick them in the dishwasher.

"Are too." Christine smiled, "Well? How the fuck was it?" She poked at her friend's side.

Maria smiled and blushed thinking about the night before and this morning and struggled to find the words. She looked at her friend and Christine saw her face and just laughed, "Probably the single most wonderful experience I've ever had."

"Better than chocolate?"

"By far."

"Kettle Corn?"

"Of course."

"…That professional massage we got by those two hot ass Swedish guys?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely." She smiled and Christine squealed.

"Oh when we get home, I was EVERY single squishy, fleshy, delicious detail." She started up the dishes again, "Plus measurements."

"Oh yeah." Maria smiled.

After the dishes were done and everyone was sufficiently pacified with enough food and caffeine to survive their day Maria snuck off for a shower, borrowing some of Mia's clothes to change in to for their trip home. She came down, feeling like she scrubbed off a weeks worth of grime and felt sufficiently better. She went into Dom's room and collected her things, throwing on yesterday's bra and underwear because she didn't have any other option. She packed the rest of her stuff in her purse that they found in Mia's car – that Christine had so graciously grabbed the night before. She started picking up stuff in the bedroom from their night of destruction like pillows on the floor, things knocked off of end tables, the sheets that had accompanied them to the ground during their numerous bouts in the night. She straightened everything up and made the bed, almost feeling guilty that they had caused such a mess but smiling the entire time.

When she was done, Dom finally walked in and looked around, "Shit, you cleaned."

She smiled, "Yeah, it looked like a tornado hit before I picked some stuff up."

He smiled back, looking at her all scrubbed clean and smelling like the Dove soap in the bathroom. "You didn't have to do that."

She looked into his eyes and laughed, "Are you serious? I just showered! I just cleaned this whole place up."

He kicked the door shut, "Ok then, I'll clean up this time." He got to the bed in a second and had her lying down, stripped, in only a few more. "And this time, we'll shower together." And then, it started all over again.


	10. Chapter 10

-10-

Maria was back at home and getting ready for work, thinking about what the hell happened this weekend. She had an amazing sexual encounter that demolished any previous fantasies she'd had about Bruce Willis or Ryan Reynolds and also had a wonderful Sunday afternoon with some really great people. She spent all of Saturday with Dom and his crew, watching TV and getting to know everyone. They all went out for pizza early and were planning on going to the races again that night. Maria had decided she had too much good luck for one weekend and knew she should go home. Also she felt like an impetuous slut for wanting to spend another night with Dom and was feeling guilty that she left Luca for so long. She missed him too much to really have fun that night anyway so her and Christine said bye to the crew and headed back to Santa Fe. The rest of the weekend was spent at Christine's hotel, lounging by the pool with Luca – who could swim like a fish – and discussing the fleshy details of the weekend that Christine so adamantly requested. She couldn't believe she'd been so crazy and let herself get involved with a man that she was pretty sure she'd never see again.

Christine had taken her to work, because Maria's sleeping schedule was slightly disrupted by the last few days and she wasn't functioning completely. She would be able to survive work, but she knew that she would not be able to survive driving home at four a.m.

She got into work said hi to Lonnie and Donnie, who was feeling much better now, and went into the back room to get ready for the night. She decided on a dark red haired wig tonight and did her makeup dark and smoky. She lacquered on some lipstick that matched wig and pulled on a little black number that wrapped around her, covering all of the appropriate places, but showing a lot of skin. She strapped on some black "Fuck Me" pumps and felt ready to conquer the night.

They made their way into the elevator and down to the main room and started prepping for the night. Maria had started arranging her bar when the men started pouring in. She got the men their ridiculously expensive booze and their signature cigars and kept them sated and happy while other girls perched on their laps and helped serve them drinks. She was standing at the bar cleaning up a mess some gentleman just made when she heard someone take a seat on the stool. Not many men sat down at the bar because the other girls didn't service it. Maria looked up and saw Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome smiling at her around a cigar.

"Well look what the cat drug in!" She smiled and grabbed the bottle of Whiskey that he liked.

"Glad you remembered old Antonio. Couldn't resist coming back to see you darlin'. Plus, you do have my favorite whiskey and cigars here." He smiled and took a sip of the whiskey and a puff from the cigar.

"So how was your week?" She smiled, a girl came to the counter and asked for a few different drinks and Maria started making them while he talked.

"Pretty good. You know, exploiting the masses and destroying orphanages for profit." He smiled.

Maria laughed, "And I bet you sleep like a baby a night."

"This baby has a place to sleep though." He winked.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned to the back of the bar in order to grab some ingredients for a Martini.

"I also want to introduce you to my great-nephew. They don't usually allow youngins in here, but they've made a special exception for me."

"Well if he's half as good looking as you, I have half a mind to take up your offer on the desert island," She was rummaging through some things, not looking back at him, "And then make a run for it with him." When she looked up, she was staring straight into the eyes of the devil.

"Enzo Sansone" He smiled and reached out his hand. Maria wiped her hands off on the rag at the bar and reached hers out.

"Elika." He pulled the same trick as when he met her at the races, kissing her palm.

"Pleasure."

"Same here." She smiled. She couldn't stop being flirty now, he would notice her behavior and it may raise questions. She wasn't sure why, but she was now vastly disappointed in the fact that Antonio was related to this leech. He sat down at the bar and smiled at all the women who were walking around, serving other men, but gladly taking in an eyeful of Enzo – God knows he was attractive and not actually a senior citizen. The girls were practically falling over each other with how many times they strutted past the bar. Maria was trying not to gag.

"What can I get you?" She smiled. He ordered the most expensive drink that they carried. Tonic water and Vodka called "Diva" which was triple distilled through crushed diamonds and ran about fifty thousand a bottle for the mid-range quality. He also asked for one of the more pricey Cuban cigars and sat next to his uncle, brimming with arrogance.

"Now my Enzo here is a nice young guy. He's just finishing up school and then he may take over the family business." Antonio smiled, patting Enzo on the back. "He could use a nice girl like you on his arm. Look at him isn't he a great looking kid?" Antonio laughed. Obviously he was just joking around, but the predatory look that was in Enzo's eyes when he was staring at Maria made her want to scrub off her first few layers of skin with sand paper.

"Absolutely." She smiled, her voice oozing with sexuality, all the while digging her fingernails into the flesh of her palm to keep from screaming at him. "However, he'd have to convince me that you're not worth keeping first." She winked at Antonio, nodded to Enzo and took off for the other end of the bar to start fixing drinks for some other patrons.

When she turned around, Enzo was there at the bar leaning against it with his cigar and vodka in one hand, "I'm pretty sure I could convince you that I'm better than my uncle. God knows the man is about eighty." He smiled. She could see him working his charm and had to admit he was very smooth. Other girls were walking into walls trying to get a good look at him and Maria just felt extremely cold every time he was around.

"I bet you could sweetheart," She'd had to scrub her tongue too. "But your uncle's already proposed to me." She winked and turned on him again, going back to the other end of the bar. "And I wouldn't want to break his heart." She said over her shoulder, while Enzo followed her across the bar.

"He's a tough old guy. I bet he could handle it. Especially if we got some proof of just how talented you are." He smiled.

Maria tried not to punch him, but was having a hard time. She took a deep breath, that probably looked like she was trying to control what she felt like blind rage and what he assumed was sexual attraction. "If he knew how good I was, it'd probably give him a heart attack." She winked and turned to the rest of the men at the bar. "I'm going on a quick break gentlemen, I'll be back in a few."

She waved down the other bar tender and took off for the back room that connected to a patio. She needed a cigarette and needed it now.

She sucked back two cigarettes while her hands were shaking. Every time that punk was around she felt like her skin was trying to rip itself off. She could drink, but she'd probably fall asleep at the bar and end up getting dry humped by some old maniac. She could go home, but she really needed the money. She breathed a deep sigh of resignation and flicked her cigarette off the balcony into the abandoned lot behind the building and turned to go back inside.

Her boss Carl aka Mr. Johnson aka King of the Sleazy Douche Bags was waiting for her inside. He did not look pleased.

"Yes Carl?" She smiled.

He looked at his watch then back at her with his mouth turned down. He looked like a Italian Catfish, "Its not your break time yet, what are you doing out here?"

She shook her head and instantly regretted not having another cigarette, "I needed the break. I got Gloria to take over for me. I made sure everyone had drinks and cigars before I ran out." Maybe.

"Doesn't matter!" He growled, "Those men in there see a girl wandering out and they get bad ideas! You are trying to ruin me!"

"No I'm not sir. I'm just heading back in right now and I'll go table to table to make sure everyone is still satisfied." She said, smiling, but it was empty. She pushed past him and heard him grumble something but just ignored it. She did as she said she would when she got back into the bar and made sure everyone was still happily guzzling their expensive liquor. Since everyone was ok, she returned to the bar, relieved Gloria and took back her station. She saw Antonio and Enzo in the back corner of the room, discussing something that didn't look like it was a light topic. Enzo was staring directly at her and it was giving her the creeps.

A few hours later and a few more uncomfortable instances with Enzo and his uncle had Maria beat. She felt utterly grimy and pissed off but she had no outlet other than escaping to the back to smoke a cigarette.

Finally, Enzo left with Antonio, before the bar was closed and Maria instantly felt better. She got back to serving drinks and counting the minutes until she was off.

She was back in her normal Jeans and a t-shirt and rifling through her purse to find her a quarter to call Christine and make sure she was on her way. Thankfully, the night ended a little early when one gentleman got too drunk and threw up all over a waitress. It was only about 2:30, so she could call Christine now and be home within the hour.

She wasn't really paying attention as the other girls shuffled out around her. She had a cigarette hanging from her lip, unlit and she was still trying to find a goddamned quarter.

"Waiting for me?" He pulled out a lighter and lit her cigarette.

In any other circumstance, she may not have been so weirded out. But this was crossing the line.

"Actually I'm trying to find a quarter so I can get a ride." She said, not looking up from her purse.

"I could take you home." He smiled.

Maria looked up at Enzo and he was still just as creepy as he was before. He was _too_ perfect looking.

"No thank you."

"You looked fantastic in there with that little get up." He smiled, backing her up into the wall. "I almost didn't recognize you with that wig on." He fingered some loose strands of hair close to her face.

"I'd appreciate it if you backed up. I don't feel comfortable like this." She said getting ready to plunge her cigarette into his eye socket if necessary.

He put his hands into her hair and fisted a clump, yanking it to the side with too much force, Maria let out a yelp and dropped her cigarette from the shock, "You know, you should show more respect to me. I'm not like that trash you were with last weekend."

Black dots were blinking in her vision and she was having a hard time concentrating. He yanked a bit harder and she felt her knees go a little weak. _Please, not again_. She thought to herself.

"Pay attention!" He rasped. All of the girls had made their way out to the parking garage. She was stuck on the side of the building, away from the doorway, so Lonnie would not see her.

She regained her sanity, pushed back the blinding fear and kicked him hard in the ankle, he shouted and let go of her hair. She grabbed the back of his head as he bent over and pushed him down, using the force to propel herself forward and away from him. She started running back to the main door when Lonnie came out surprised to see her.

"What's wrong?" He asked while she bolted behind him. He turned back to see Enzo coming around the corner with a gun in his hand.

"Disrespectful bitch!" He growled and was about to bring up his gun, when Lonnie pulled a sawed off double barrel shot gun out of his jacket and leveled it at his face.

"Put it down or I'm blowing a hole in your head." He growled. It looked like Enzo was debating what he wanted to do with it until finally he shoved it back into his pants and pointed a stiff finger at Maria.

"I'll get you bitch." He growled and turned and was gone.

Lonnie pulled Maria back inside, still holding the shot gun level and making sure he didn't come back. He pulled her over to the side, locked the door and returned, putting her head between her legs and telling her to push up against his hand. She didn't feel like throwing up or crying anymore so she told him she was ok and sat up.

"You okay?" Lonnie asked, putting the shotgun back in his leather jacket.

"Fuckin' peachy." She growled and looked into her purse. "I need a cigarette. I need booze. I need a lobotomy."

Lonnie chuckled softly, "I'm calling the police." He handed her his cell phone, "Call Christine and tell her to stay with Luca. I'll take you home." He turned away and went to phone in the incident while Maria called Christine. She didn't answer the home phone or her cell so she figured that she may already be on her way but she left a message just in case.

The police sent over a blue and white and took Maria's statement. She didn't want to exactly press charges, but the police said they'd keep an eye out for him because Enzo evidently had a prior record – that didn't surprise her. She thanked the officers as they left and went to use the bathroom for a good solid cry.

She hadn't been pushed around like that for a long time, but it never lost its affect. No matter how many times she had been hit it never seemed to become less frightening than the first time. She feared that everywhere she would go crazy fuck heads like Enzo and her husband would follow her and she'd never have peace and Luca would never be safe. The fear was overwhelming. Before, she didn't care if she lived or died, but with Luca now she had a renewed sense of her own mortality. Once she got her breathing controlled, she checked herself out in the mirror.

_Great. I'm all red and blotchy now._ She groused and washed her face, hoping to get rid of the anxiety and fear. She walked back into the lobby where Lonnie was standing, talking to someone. The man had her back to her, but she could recognize that form anywhere. Her breath caught in her chest and her heart started beating rapidly pushing blood to a lot of inappropriate places.

He turned to face her and she could tell he was extremely upset. It had been a few days since she'd seen him, but the effect was definitely the same. The instant the recognition hit that it was her and she was safe, he took two large steps toward her and pulled her into her arms. He felt extremely warm and safe and she felt like dissolving into a mess once again.

"Are you ok?" His voice washed over her and she felt the tension roll off of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his chest. He was real. He was there. And he wasn't going to punch her or shoot her.

"I'm fine." She smiled, "What the hell are you doing here? I didn't think I was going to see you again."

He laughed, "You don't give me the best fuck of my life and get off that easy." He rumbled into her ear and kissed it lightly. She shivered slightly. "Besides, I called your house and asked Christine when you would be home and she said she was going to pick you up, so I volunteered."

She looked at him and couldn't figure it out. Here was a man who had countless women – _ahem_ – girls at his disposal and he was following a twenty four year old single mother. She was going to ask him what was wrong with him, but decided against it. If God wanted to give her a few more hours with him, she wouldn't tempt fate.

"Ok." She said simply.

"I'll take her home Lonnie." He said and nodded to Lonnie and Donnie who were by the door.

"Ok, take care of her." He said seriously, "And Maria, Enzo isn't allowed within one hundred feet of you. We talked to Carl and he's banned Enzo from the bar – as well as his uncle. So you'll be safe here still."

She smiled weakly at them and Dom ushered her out of the building and into his car. Once he was safely inside as well, she noticed that his hands had a death grip on the steering wheel.

"That fucker deserves to die. Who the fuck does he think he is? He thinks he can do that to you? He thinks he can fuck over another woman in my life as well? He needs to understand who the fuck he is dealing with."

He was obviously talking to himself. Lost in a bit of rage and Maria completely understood it. She was feeling that as well and she wanted to be big and tough like Dom. She could handle her own. She could make people afraid of her…maybe.

She heard him expel a whoosh of air and he finally turned to look at her. His eyes were sad and his expression was relaxed.

"Are you sure your ok?" She nodded and he started the car. They drove in silence for the entire trip and something was plaguing Maria. Once they pulled up in front of her house they hesitated in the car and she finally figured it out.

"What did you mean, 'another woman'?" She asked quietly, not looking at him. From what she could see out of the corner of her eye, he had slumped his shoulders slightly and heaved a sigh.

"Can I come in?" He said softly. "I'll tell you about it in there."

"Yes." She said and they got out of the car. It was 5:30 in the morning once they got back and Maria had to shower and get things ready for Luca in about two hours. She figured she could still do all of that and talk to Dom. He looked slightly deflated – not that he was in any way less intimidating – as they walked into the house. Maria woke Christine, who was delighted to see Dom, but took off rather quickly.

Maria gave Christine a recap of what had happened in the past few hours and she was already exhausted from it. She walked in to check on Luca and saw him sleeping comfortably and went to her room, with Dom, following her.

She felt her resolve crumble a little and a tear broke through and slid down her cheek. Dom walked up behind her and kissed her neck softly and helped her undress. He went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and came back for Maria who was sitting on the bed with her t-shirt, underwear and socks still on.

"This keeps happening to me and I don't understand why." She said softly. He peeled her shirt off and pulled off her socks and pushed her into the bathroom, following her and shedding his own clothing.

He got her into the shower and she was crying softly. He simply stood there with her, holding her close to him and letting the blistering water pass over both of them. He massaged her body gently, working out a few kinks here and there and trying to get her to calm down.

She stopped crying and looked up at him with an expression that was so genuine it was almost painful for Dom to see. She was smiling up at him softly, but there was still so much hurt in her eyes. She got up on her tippy toes and used her hands to pull his head down so she could kiss him. It was soft at first but escalated quickly into something he suddenly wanted very badly. He held her up against the shower wall and pushed inside of her slowly.

They were in the shower for only a few more minutes, exhausted and scrubbed clean, both feeling like the weight on their shoulders was removed. Without words, she stepped out of the shower and handed him a towel, taking the second one for herself. He followed her into the room where she started collecting her clothing and pulling it back on in the very same fashion she did when she was taking it off. He did the same and followed her into the kitchen where he sat down and she started making coffee.

"So." She finally said, "What's with Enzo and why does he have a hard on for you and your girls?"

Dom sighed and watched her as she danced through the kitchen. She knew where everything was and was doing about three things at once. She started pulling out ingredients for waffles, eggs, and bacon and Dom tried to stand up and help but she motioned for him to sit down.

"Its my turn." She smiled softly, "And it's your turn to talk."

He didn't exactly want to recap on the hell that was his life, but she was anxious for the truth and it didn't look like he could not tell her – now she was involved.

"When we first moved here there was another member of our group. Her name was Letty and she had been my…I guess, my girlfriend for a few years now." He sighed, "When we got here, we were struggling hard to make a name for ourselves and keep things as legitimate as possible. We've had run-ins with the police too many times and we were trying to…" He struggled for the term, _come clean?_ No, that didn't sound right.

"Turn a new leaf?" She smiled and he nodded.

"When we got here, the Sansones were the premier family. Anyone who had any business in New Mexico went through them if they didn't want to suffer severe consequences. I made it clear I wanted no involvement and they pushed us and we pushed back. Of course, this was the younger group of the Sansones who were controlling the races and practically all the true racers – they couldn't touch the rich kids or they'd scream lawsuits. When Senior Sansone found out about us fighting back and what Enzo was pulling down here he crashed down on his son and told him to quit fucking around. So we got left alone, but there's never been much peace between us and the Sansone youngsters since then." He sighed and watched as she put a cup of coffee down in front of him.

"The girl?"

Dom nodded, "Letty. Enzo has a hard on for everything that has two legs and tits so he went after her. Letty was younger than me by a few years and I wasn't the best boyfriend around. I cheated on her and we didn't talk about it. She handled her own when she could but I was younger and stupid and didn't realize that a nineteen year old girl wouldn't understand how they were just a fuck. I really cared about her but we were just oil and water. We fought and fucked and when we didn't fuck I went somewhere else for it. So she chose Enzo to finally cheat on me, knowing it would completely fuck with my head, which it did. I told her to leave and never come back because she betrayed our family by sleeping with that scum – not just me. She went to find Enzo to see if he'd keep her and he fucked her, beat her up and she left. I haven't seen her since and I don't except to."

Maria watched as he told the story, his fingers gripping the coffee cup with white knuckles. He was obviously still upset by this entire thing and she assumed it had more to do with losing a family member than his sadness for losing a lover.

"We got a post card back a while ago which said she was fine and said she was never coming back. That was basically it. No return address, no way of contacting her, so we all just let it go. But not without some bad feelings. Needless to say, my family and the Sansones don't like each other." His voice was tighter now, "I make it clear that my family stays away from them, but it's hard. We constantly get attacked."

He looked like he was going to continue with the conversation but they hear the pitter patter of tiny feet coming down the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Mommy?" Luca's hair was disheveled and he was still in his pajamas. He stopped short on seeing Dom in the kitchen and immediately got scared until he recognized him. "You're the man from the garage."

"Yes." He smiled, "Domonic," He reached out his hand and Luca came over and shook it, "But my friends call me Dom – so you can too."

Luca automatically smiled and Maria tried to stifle her giggle. Luca sat down next to Dom at the table and started talking in rapid-kid-speak. He was barely taking breaths between every five or six sentences, but he was absolutely enthralled by Dom – and Dom put up with it.

After a second of silence, "Are you a wrestler?"

Maria almost spit up her coffee, "Luca!" They both looked at her and Dom was just smiling. Luca looked perplexed, as if that wasn't a strange question. She shook her head and smiled too, "You need to get ready for school, by then, breakfast will be ready."

He jumped off of his chair and looked at Dom, "Are you staying?" Dom nodded and Luca grabbed his hand, "I wanna show you my room!" He was yanking on Dom's hand and pulling with all his childly might and Dom just looked at Maria and smiled. He stood up and let Luca drag him into his room.

Maria continued to finish up making breakfast as Luca told Dom everything he knew about Harry Potter.

After breakfast and walking Luca to the bus stop, Dom and Maria went back into the house and finished cleaning up after breakfast.

"Cute kid." He smiled as he leaned against the stove while she stacked all the dishes in the drying holder.

"He isn't around men a lot." She smiled, "I mean, he has boys at school that he sees all the time, but men are never in my house."

"I guess I consider myself lucky then." He smiled. She started yawning as she was putting away from of the utensils and putting the excess food into containers for either tomorrow or later today.

"Tired?" He smiled and helped her put them in the fridge.

"Exhausted." She muttered, one of her eyes closing on it's own accord.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him putting his lips to her hair, "You smell like waffles." He smiled and his hands started tracing all over her body again. "I love waffles."

She laughed and pushed him back and stepped away from him, "You have a problem!" She growled as he matched her steps. In a few quick moments he had her pinned up against the counter top by the sink. He lifted her up so she was sitting on it and level with him. His hands traced over her features and he kissed her softly. She was staring into his eyes and he felt like she could so easily strip away everything that was surrounding him. All the years of him acting tough and being mean were stripped away with one look of those big grey eyes. He kissed her again and felt something stir inside of him.

"Why are you here?" She said softly, after the kiss. He looked at her in surprise and she looked just as shocked as he did, "I said that out loud didn't I?" She blushed bright red.

He smiled. "Please, explain."

She sighed, "You are you." She said, motioning to his entire body, "I am me." And she motioned to hers. "I have a child and I haven't been touched by a man in about five years. You are King of the Racing community and have women falling over themselves in order to lick an inch of you – and they don't even care _which_ inch! I just don't get it. Why did you come back?"

He put a strand of hair behind her ears and stared into her features, "I don't know." He said and kissed her. "I usually toss girls away after each individual use, but you," He smiled and kissed her again, "You are different. Amusing. Intelligent. And sexy as hell." He stared into her eyes and could see that she didn't believe him, "I tried leaving you alone for a night. I even tried to get with another girl, but I couldn't. You're stuck in my head and I don't know why. All I do know is I kind of like you being there." He nuzzled her neck, "I like being here." His hand traced down her body and rested over her pubic bone. He knew she wasn't wearing underwear underneath her pajama bottoms and he started to rub her. His voice lowered and his mouth went to her ear, "And you are the best fuck I've had in a long, long time."

She squeaked a little when he grabbed her ass and pulled her tighter against him. His lips were rough and relentless on hers and she could feel him pressing into her.

"We've had sex like a hundred times since I met you." She mumbled around his lips, "How do I know you wont get tired and toss me away? Not that I care since I'm enjoying this immensely."

"I don't know." He growled unbuttoning his pants and sliding them down on his hips with one hand. He lifted her ass off of the counter and slid off her pajama bottoms and in one move he was inside of her. He swooped down and pulled the strap of her tank top off of her shoulder to expose her perfect breast and took it in his mouth while he pounded into her.

"Oh my god." She said softly, her legs and arms wrapping around him. She scratched her nails down his back and he growled, increasing his speed. "Oh." She muttered. It was as if she were surprised. Dom loved how calm she could be in the heat of the moment, saying things like "Oh gosh" and "please" and then in another second be growling back and biting his shoulder to keep him going faster.

"Don't stop." She said softly, "Please."

He smiled and kept pounding into her kissing her the entire time and playing with her nipple, while his other hand held her in place on the edge of the counter.

Thankfully Maria's house didn't have any large open windows out into the neighborhood, so no one could really watch them as they finished up in the kitchen and then started again on their way to the bedroom. They fell asleep soon after, curled up against each other, naked as the day they were born. They were both so completely exhausted that they didn't notice when the black BMW with tinted windows pulled away from the curb across the street and rolled past the front of Maria's house and sped away, burning rubber.


	11. Chapter 11

Hello all, sorry it took me so long to update. School is a bitch and I also got sick this past week and was NOT able to function properly. I tried writing but when it all came out like gibberish I gave up. I hope you enjoy the chapter, things will start picking up soon when I get the time to let them. PLEASE let me know what you think!!!!

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-11-

Weeks seemed to pass by and it was closing in on the summer months in New Mexico. Dom had surprised Maria by not letting her out of his sight. They spent almost every other day together, getting to know each other verbally as well as physically. He also spent a lot of time getting to know Luca as well. When Maria would leave for work during the week, he would stay most nights with Christine and help her with the growing kid.

Luca was absolutely thrilled with Dom's presence. He helped the boy with his homework, played sports with him (which was much better than mommy because mommies don't play sports like boys do), introduced him to some E-rated video games, as well as introduced him to the rest of the crew. Many nights, Dom would pick Maria up from work and she'd come home to see Vince sleeping on her couch, Leon on her floor, Mia and Christine in her bed, and Jesse curled up with Luca in his small twin.

It seemed like an odd arrangement, however everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves – especially Maria.

The sky was bright and blue and the entire landscape reflected the sun's energy. Maria was in the passenger seat of her car with Dom at the wheel and Luca in the back seat. Two more cars were following them on the highway. It was Luca's seventh birthday and Dom was taking them plus the crew and Christine to a Water Park, since it was about one hundred degrees and only nine a.m.

He was holding her hand on the gearshift, happy to cruise along in her Charger – even if it was automatic – with the windows partially down and music playing softly in the background. He watched her staring out the window with a soft smile on her face, watching as the landscape rolled by her on their way to the Park. Her hair had gotten much longer it was now a bit below her shoulders. When she let it hang naturally, it was thick and fell in soft waves around her face, with short bangs cascading over her features.

He had tried his hardest to discover everything he could about her, so he could know her inside and out – and he'd done a pretty good job. He spent most of his nights playing twenty questions with Luca, who didn't mind talking about himself or his mommy – always done with extreme compassion and awe. He learned her favorite color – purple – favorite movies – Die Hard – her dream job – a psychologist/counselor or a professional dancer – where she had grown up and gone to high school, the sports she loved, her favorite music – Dave Matthews Band – and anything else she was willing to tell him. He returned the favor as well, talking more about himself than he felt like he had in all his life. Though he knew that Vince and Mia probably knew the rest of this stuff, he knew it didn't matter to them like it did to Maria. She was constantly trying to add a little color in his life. She would do silly things like draw stick pictures of ridiculous scenes either from the racing community or life in general and leave them post-it-noted on some place he wouldn't find it right away. She would have Luca do coloring pages and she'd sit there and color one for herself as well and she'd be mock-upset if he didn't put it on his fridge with the rest of their artwork. She was unlike any other woman he'd ever met. She knew how to be wholesome and caring while still able to be relentlessly sexy and almost feral when the time came. She was tenacious, intelligent, and beautiful. He was beginning to think that he might actually love her.

The thought caught him in his chest and Maria noticed that he jerked the wheel slightly. She tried not to laugh too hard, pretending to pay more attention to her son who was speaking a mile a minute in the back seat about some new TV show. She was bewildered by his mere existence in her life. He was constantly around and supportive of her. He would make dinner for her and Luca constantly and try to let Maria get extra sleep while he walked to get Luca from the bus stop. He asked her questions about herself that she realized no one but Christine had ever even mentioned. He would leave her little notes in random places and as silly as it seems, call her to tell her about any new jokes he had heard. She was surprised by his ability to be so compassionate and was amazed by the way he and Luca got along. He was a good friend to him without being undermining to Maria and he was a stabilizing force in both of their lives. She couldn't help but wonder who he really was – when she first met him, he was all sexual ferocity and bravado, and now he was turning into something like a boyfriend. She realized that her feelings for him were probably too strong but she couldn't stop herself. She knew she loved him though she wouldn't admit it to anyone else. He was the first man in her life to really truly care about her and try to be there for her and she was confounded.

They finally pulled into the parking lot of the water park and Luca was basically vibrating in his seat. He was wearing his Ninja turtle swim trunks and a black _Hurley_ t-shirt that Leon and Jesse had purchased for him as well as large knock off _Ray Ban_ sunglasses from Vince that made him look like a Blues Brother. Mia had bought him a brand new towel and some free movie tickets and Dom had sprung for the trip to the Water Park – as well as a new Gameboy DS. Maria had sprung for a few games that were educational (Sudoku and Brain Quest) as well as Geometry Wars, because, lets face it, the game was cool.

"We're here!!!" Luca squealed and started attempting to climb over the seat that his mother was still currently occupying.

"Young man, sit down!" Maria said firmly and he dropped onto his behind. "I know you are excited, but _please_ be careful and behave, this is an extra special present from Dom and you should be on your best behavior."

"Yes mommy." He smiled, still vibrating. Maria looked over at Dom who was trying not to laugh and she rolled her eyes and got out of the car with Dom at the same time. Dom pulled the seat forward and Luca leaped from the car towards the water park. Dom caught him in flight and put the boy back on the ground, where his feet were anxiously bouncing waiting to get started on the walk over.

"This is your responsibility." She glared at Dom pointing an accusing finger at him.

"I know and I promise to behave," He smiled, "But this guy," He said lifting a squealing Luca over his shoulder, "Gets whatever he wants today!" He laughed and Maria looked apprehensive.

Luca caught the look, "But only if mommy says its ok!"

They both looked at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Suck ups." She muttered and grabbed her bag that held her towel, sunscreen, and some reading material. Dom locked up the car and tossed her the keys to put in her bag. The other cars pulled up and parked and their whole entourage started falling out behind them.

"I haven't been to a Water Park since we were in high school Maria." Christine laughed, lugging her bag over her shoulder.

"I don't think I've been to one ever." Jesse said. He was so thin, but still managed to pack on a bit of wiry muscle. He was also paler than everyone else in the group, "I think its because my man-tan would impress the ladies too much."

Vince, Leon and Mia followed behind them, carting all of their belongings from the car.

They walked into the Water Park, which was flooded with families and kids of all ages running around in bathing suits with their wet feet – it was enough to give Maria a heart attack. She looked back to find Luca and tell him he wasn't allowed to run while wet or she'd take him home and froze when she saw him holding Dom's hand, both of them with huge smiles on their faces. Her heart pitter patted and she felt like a tear was going to pop out and she was glad that she was wearing sunglasses. Christine slid up to her side and slipped her hand into hers.

"He's a keeper." She said softly and kissed Maria on the cheek. Maria nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She really had to get these emotions under control before she exposed herself too much and scared him off. She promised herself she wouldn't tell him how she felt until he did – not wanting to scare the man into a relationship and even worse, a family.

They found a few seats located between the kiddy park and the ever-flowing river that went around the whole place and camped there. Everyone started stripping down to their skivvies, the men removing their shirts and posing for the girls who laughed until they almost cried. Luca ran off with Leon and Jesse while Vince went to the bar to grab some drinks for everyone. Christine and Mia took off their sundresses and started packing on the tanning oil, their bodies gloriously dark and contrasting with the bright colors of their suits. They laid down on their toweled chairs and began to soak up even more UV rays.

"Maria!" Christine rasped, "Take it off or I'll take it off for you!"

Dom turned at that and pointed a finger at Christine, "That's my job."

She scoffed, "Shows how much _you_ know." And Mia and Maria laughed.

She looked at Christine hesitantly. It seemed like a great idea buying this suit when no one else was around and they had a bottle of champagne down their throats, but now Maria was extremely nervous.

"Ok, but no laughing!" She said, pointing at everyone, "I haven't been in a bathing suit in God knows how long!"

Dom sat down directly in front of her and pulled out a single and held it in his teeth. She whacked him in the head, only relatively hard, but grabbed the dollar bill and stuck it in her pocket. She pulled off her dress, but quickly put it up in front of her to hide herself. All that Dom noticed was that it was white.

"Come on Maria," He growled, anxious. "Look, I'll show you mine if you show me yours." He smiled and stood up, pulling up his shirt in a mock strip tease.

She pushed at his chest and he sat back down, laughing. She rolled her eyes and glared at Christine, "I hate you for making me buy this!"

"But Dom will _love_ me." She smiled behind her sunglasses that took up half of her face.

She groaned and shut her eyes tight and then let the dress fall out of her hands. She opened her eyes to look down at Dom and he was just smiling, ear-to-ear, with that look in his eye.

"You look amazing." He said and stood up, letting his hands slide down her sides. The bathing suit _was_ white. It had a halter-top with a sharp v-cut neckline that connected between her breasts with a modest sized dark opalesque shell. It accentuated her tan and her breasts beautifully. The bottoms were a modest boy cut that rounded her hips and played up her toned ass. Christine was right, he loved it.

She involuntarily shivered at the look in his eye and smacked at his chest again. "It's not too much?" She said quietly.

He chuckled, "Its definitely too much." He said and she looked nervous, "I'd prefer you in nothing."

A sandal hit him on the back of his head, "EWW!! GROSS!" Mia shouted.

Christine threw Leon's shoe and hit him in the back, "Move! You're blocking the view!!"

He laughed and stepped out of the way and the girls hooted and cheered for Maria. She blushed bright red and put her sunglasses back on. She sat down on the chair and watched Dom as he pulled off his shirt and dropped it in the bag, sliding his Oakley's back on and taking a seat next to her. He reclined back and decided to rest his eyes a bit, listening to the girls chatter about some book Maria was reading.

"I love that series!!" Mia squealed.

"Me too!" Christine said, "Morelli is _hot_."

"Nuh uh, I'm all about Ranger." Mia said. They got into an argument about which character was hotter and turned to Maria.

"Who would you do?" Christine said.

Maria just smiled and pulled down her sunglasses, "Easy! I'd do both of them!" She saw that Dom's eyebrow raised at that. "I'd do them both at once if they'd let me!" Maria and Christine laughed and Dom let an almost smile curl the side of his mouth. He still hadn't moved since he sat down.

A few moments later, Vince returned with a bucket of beers and a couple of sodas for everyone to share. It was absurdly hot and Maria took the bottled water instead of the beer or the soda – she didn't want to get dehydrated, since it happened to her sometimes.

She looked around and was pretty sure that Mia and Christine were asleep, luckily for them, they didn't have to worry about flipping over too much since they were already ridiculously dark. Maria was still a little uncomfortable in her bathing suit since Christine was starting to reintroduce her to the finer points of looking sexy while Dom was attempting to remind her how to feel that way.

He had his hand on her thigh, softly rubbing her skin with the pad of his thumb. He didn't look like he was paying strict attention so Maria flicked his fingers off of her.

"I don't want to get a tan line of your gargantuan hands on my thighs." She smiled.

He sat up and looked at her with a wicked smile. He was sweaty and gorgeous – Maria was overly tempted on licking him up and down. "Why does it matter? I'm the only one to see it anyways." He growled.

Maria rolled her eyes, "Maybe I'm just using you as my platform to get out into the dating world again." She stuck out her tongue at him – she was feeling very mature. Dom just smiled and laid back down, putting his hands behind his head.

Maria was about to lie back down and become more engaged with her book when she looked up for a moment trying to spot Leon, Jesse or Luca. She smiled as she saw Leon and Jesse running – a little miffed at them for being bad examples for Luca. She lifted her hand to wave to them but stopped.

Luca wasn't with them.

Her heart stopped beating.

She leapt out of the chair, scrambling over it and knocking people down as she ran to meet them, she basically launched herself at Leon, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him until Dom came up behind her and pulled her back, her hands were still shaking when they let go.

"Stop screaming, let the men talk." Dom whispered in her ear, kissing it softly.

_Screaming?_ She just stared at Jesse and Leon, who were too busy looking mortified.

"We went down the slide first cause he said he wanted to go alone – and he could; he was old enough and tall enough. But when we went down he didn't follow us. Some other kid came down before him. So Leon ran back up and asked the lifeguard but the lifeguard said he walked back down the other way with a tall guy with dark hair – I mean fuck it coulda been Vince for all I know. I'm sorry, I don't know what to do. We talked to security and gave them his description and they are watching out for him." Jesse said without taking a breath.

"Luca?" was all Maria managed to say. She pushed off of Dom and started running around in circles. She couldn't hold herself together she was so terrified. Finally Dom get everyone organized enough to take off in different directions. Everyone had a cell phone and would call if they spotted him. Dom went with Maria because she still hadn't really caught her breath back.

She chose the direction in the opposite way of the slide he was on. She was walking so fast that Dom could barely keep up with her. Her entire body was buzzing, in tune and waiting for a response from her son's. She scanned the entire crowd watching all the small blonde framed faces cheerily smiling and playing with their parents and friends. Her heart started to beat slower as the seconds ticked by. She had never been so scared in her entire life.

Dom was next to her, muttering something, but she couldn't hear him. The world around her had seemed to fracture and the sound from the break was still echoing in her head. She was afraid her ears might start bleeding.

That was when she heard it.

Out of all the screaming children, she heard this one the clearest.

"MOOOOOOOOOOOM!" It wasn't like the rest of the yells, out of hunger, sleepiness, or want. This was a high-pitched keen of pure terror. And it was her Luca – unfortunately, she knew the sound too well.

Maria tore off in the direction of the sound, leaving Dom behind in her dust. She was tearing around corners pushing past adults and hurtling over smaller children, barefoot and still in her bikini, but she didn't care, all she wanted was her Luca.

She made a sharp turn and almost passed right by them. When she finally stopped and turned back to investigate the snap shot that occurred on her right hand side, she was horrified at what she saw. As opposed to what most people think when terror strikes, things do not slow down. They actually seem to speed up, however your body is entirely hyper-aware of every single detail that is occurring around you.

Like now, Maria felt like she was frozen in time, but all of the things she noticed were noticed between her fast, ragged breaths. A man, indistinct, but dark in his features, was holding onto Luca's waist and trying to get a hand over his mouth to keep the boy from screaming. Luca was gripping onto the black rod iron fence that encased the entire water park and yelling for all he was worth. It was over one hundred degrees and the bars had to be burning the poor boy's hands and arms. In the same moment he opened his mouth to scream, he saw his mother and his eyes widened in absolute joy, just a millisecond after, Maria saw the man's hand raise high in order to smack her son.

That was when time really stopped. Everything seemed to blur and the next thing she remembered was being lifted from behind by Dom and Vince's strong arms.

"Calm down," Dom had said and her heart finally stopped trying to explode through her chest. She looked down over her shoulder and watched as the security guards for the water park gathered up the man and took him away. But she didn't remember him looking like that.

_How did there get to be so much blood?_

Her arms were tense and her knuckles were throbbing.

"I'm going to put you down. Can you stand?"

She nodded, but she wasn't paying attention to him. She was looking for Luca.

"Mia and Christine have him." She felt the warm hands on her shoulders.

Why did she feel so cold?

"We need to get you cleaned up." He said softly and she felt him tugging at her. He pulled her into the nearest bathroom while Maria fought the daze that was trying to take over her body. She felt the cold water on her skin and she shivered, finally looking up at Dom who had his arms around her, helping keep her steady.

"Wha-What happened?" She said, the water soaking her through and making her feel like she was freezing. She couldn't stop shaking.

"Take deep breaths, its just the adrenaline."

"Is Luca ok?" She said sleepily, her face against his warm chest while the water flowed down around them. She looked at their feet and saw the red swirling around the drain. _Am I ok?_

"He's fine." He rumbled softly, holding her closer. "What happened was, you took off around the corner without me, running faster than I've ever seen anyone move. I don't know what happened after that, except you tackled the guy in a flying leap, pushing Luca back towards me. I handed him off to the security that was right around the corner while you basically beat the guy within an inch of his life." That was when he pulled up her knuckles, they were split open slightly and swelling. "I tried to peel you off of him but you wouldn't let me. It took me and Vince to get you off and by that time he had passed out – probably from sheer fright. I'm telling you, _I_ was scared."

She shook her head. She remembered running and seeing Luca there, screaming, crying, while the man tried to pull him into the Employee's Only door. She remembered Luca screaming and then the man tried to hit Luca. She totally lost all thought after that.

"He tried to hit Luca." She said meekly. Her heart started pumping furiously again and she began to cry. Dom wrapped his arms all the way around her and held her very close to him, hoping that the blood would soon wash off and she would be able to stand.

He let her cry for a few minutes holding on to her while she composed herself. He had never seen anyone go into that kind of a frenzy before and take off on someone like that. He had heard her screaming at the strange man and watched as she relentlessly laid her knuckles into his face. The man would be fine but he'd have one hell of a broken nose and perhaps a few teeth missing. He wasn't even able to over power her even though she was obviously half his size. He wondered for a moment, when she had that look in her eyes, if he had looked the same when his father had died and he took the wrench….

"Dom?" She said softly and knocked him out of his memories.

"Yeah?"

"I need to see my son." She said quietly. He took a step back and looked her up and down to make sure that she didn't have any more blood all over her. As happy as Luca was that his mommy found him and saved him from the man, he didn't need to know the extent to which she went to get him.

Dom walked her back outside where the sun was too bright and the air was too dry, her feet now only registering how hot the cement actually was. It was quickly forgotten when she saw her Luca in Christine's arms, wrapped in a towel.

He wriggled out of her arms easily and took off running in Maria's direction. She ran towards him as well and scooped him up into her arms and held him as close as he could possibly get. She kissed him over and over again while he cried into her chest. She would never ever forget the feeling of his weight in her arms as a child. She would never forget the way his hair always smelled like vanilla and coconut. She would never be able to forget the way he said he loved her with his little arms wrapped around her neck.

She didn't realize it but she had fallen to the ground with him in her arms. She was holding him tight and rocking him now, telling him how much she loved him and how she would never let anyone else hurt him. She would protect him forever and ever.

Dom watched the spectacle and he was amazed. First of all he'd never known any woman who could handle herself like Maria – not even Letty. God knows Letty could fight, but Maria had something else. He had an easier time pulling Vince out of fights before and Vince was at least three times bigger than she was. She was brutal and strong and it was a whole new side to her that he had never seen. While she held her son he watched her closed eyes twitch with memories he didn't know about and saw the tears slide silently down her cheeks. He was amazed how the woman who a few minutes ago would have ripped out a man's throat with her bare hands was now holding her child tenderly and kissing away his tears. He didn't understand being a parent, but he understood how Luca felt. He knew fear and despair all too well and knowing that you will never see the one person you love the most ever again.

It was only then that he realized Mia was shaking his shoulder, "Dom. Can we take them home? People are starting to crowd."

He nodded solemnly and watched as Mia pulled Christine and the boys away to go pack up their stuff.

Dom walked over to them and lifted both of them up into his arms. Maria was still holding Luca in her arms and the kid was absolutely comatose. He was also growing rapidly and was getting to be too big for Maria to hold. His arms and legs dropped halfway down her body already.

"I'll take him." He said, putting out his arms after she got comfortably on her feet.

Maria simply shook her head and smiled at him, "I can't let him go right now. I need to hold onto him."

Dom smiled, "I understand."

He helped her into the backseat where she and Luca cuddled up and immediately fell asleep. Everyone else had loaded into their cars and had started on their way back home. Mia said she was stopping off to buy a large kiddy pool, a slip and slide, and a few other novelties in order to turn their back yard into a water park of their own as well as get a cake and some oven-made pizza for Luca's dinner. She figured while Maria and Luca slept, they would set it all up and get things organized so Luca could still have a wonderful birthday.

Dom had grabbed Maria and Luca's bags and thrown them into the front seat. He was driving slowly (for him at least) and trying to keep them from waking up. He looked back at them in the rearview mirror. She looked far too young to be so scared and be so haunted. He knew that she had some skeletons in the closet – but hell, who doesn't?

That was when something flashed in the corner of his eye and his gaze was brought to a white envelope in Maria's bag. It had no name on it so he was pretty sure it wasn't Luca's. He pulled it out and opened it up out of sheer curiosity.

**_Next time Alena, you may not catch him in time._**

It was signed "T.R" with a flourish and it caught Dom's attention. A surge of rage passed through him and it took a lot of energy for him not to lose his temper. Someone was threatening her as well as Luca, who he thought of as part of his family. Whoever it was would _not_ survive all of this because no one ever fucks with a Toretto and lives to talk about it. He took a deep breath and his vision went from red to back to multicolored. Rather than try to get an explanation now, he slipped it into his pocket. He would ask her about this later without Luca and without all the drama from earlier. He needed to know exactly what he was up against.


	12. Chapter 12

Warning, this chapter has some pretty gruesome and fucked up plot lines. I'm just warning those who are faint of heart - this chapter has some serious content in it that is NOT something that should be taken lightly. Please be wary.

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-12-

Maria woke slowly her eyes still closed and her hand reaching out to touch Luca. He wasn't next to her and her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes burst open and she shot up, sitting in the bed and clutching the comforter to her chest. She looked around and noticed the familiar tan paint on the wall, the dark dresser, and white bedspread she was wrapped in. She was in Dom's room. She looked around while her heart moved back down her throat and into her chest. She was still wearing her bathing suit and nothing else and none of her clothing was in sight. She tried to remember driving to Dom's but the last memory in her mind was her putting Luca down in the back seat and climbing in with him.

She rolled out of the bed and felt unsteady on her feet. Her heart was starting to slow as she walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs. She could hear people but not see them. She finally realized they were all in the back yard and she walked back out to meet them.

Her breath froze in her chest when she saw the back yard. There were tons of balloons lining the back fence of the large yard in all of Luca's favorite colors. There was a table set up with a cake and about seven boxes of pizza plus a ton of soda and a cooler most likely filled with ice and beer. She also noticed that there was a super long slip and slide, a large inflatable kiddy pool, and one of the coolest things she'd ever seen: a seven foot tall inflatable water slide with a knee deep reservoir at the bottom to catch the water and the people from both racing sides. At that moment, Jesse and Luca came barreling down the thing and crashed together at the bottom in the little pool laughing and squealing enthusiastically. Just then Leon and Vince came up behind them and started spraying them with super soakers while they all ran around screaming and splashing each other.

She was so happy seeing that her son was having a good time despite how horrible the entire day had started. Her heart had swelled to immeasurable size watching everyone in the back yard running around and playing. Mia finally noticed her and smiled, waved discreetly and Christine turned and winked. Maria felt the tears fall down her cheeks before she realized she was crying.

"They did this for you guys." Dom said from behind her. Maria gave a little jump, not expecting him to creep up on her like that and she sighed.

"I can't believe it." She said softly, "Why are all of you doing this for us?" She turned around and looked him in the eyes absolutely confounded with tears streaming down her face.

Dom smiled softly and pulled her into his arms, "Its because they love you – I – I love you."

Maria sobbed quite violently at that. How did the worst day ever suddenly become the best? Her heart was beating wildly at that moment with his arms wrapped around her.

"You know I didn't exactly expect that reaction." He said quietly, joking. Maria pulled back and slapped his bare chest hard. "Nor that." He chuckled.

She looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy, "I didn't mean it to appear like that. I just…" she sighed, her breath ragged from the crying jag, "I think I love you too. I've just not done this before. This whole meaningful and caring relationship is all new to me." She said softly. "I'm so fucked up." She laughed softly.

"I need to understand that." He said softly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the card from earlier. "This was in your purse when we left the park. We need to talk about this." She took it from him hesitantly and looked up at him before opening it. He continued, "I realized today that I loved you. When Luca disappeared, I realized I loved him too. I couldn't bear seeing you that destroyed. I couldn't imagine not having Luca in my life after these few weeks of having him there. I know this is sudden, but you've really changed me and my family in so many ways." He sighed, "I mean I've _never_ seen Vince smile at kids before. _Ever_. Jesse is having the time of his life with someone who can keep up with him and he's never had a mom – its sort of hard for Mia to be mom-like when she's basically the same age. Mia finally has friends that she can trust and that understand her." He laughed, "I finally have someone in my life that I trust and actually feel devoted to. They've been telling me for the past few weeks that I should keep you and do whatever it takes to make it so." Maria smiled widely staring up at him. She wanted to wrap her arms around him, her entire body and just stay there forever if it was possible. She then vaguely remembered that she was holding the envelope and needed to read it. "But I can't do that yet, I can't love you if we can't trust each other to be honest. There are some things I need to tell you and some things I need to know before I start this. I – I don't want to fuck this up." He said softly. He opened his mouth to continue even though he felt like he was talking too much when she opened the letter and read it.

Her jaw dropped open a little wider with each word. Finally, when he realized that she reached the signature he saw her complexion go ghostly white and her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed. Dom barely caught her.

"What happened!?" Christine screamed, running in, and grabbing Maria from Dom and held her shaking body close to her.

"She read this letter." Dom picked it up off the ground followed Christine into the living room where she laid Maria down on the couch. Christine turned quickly and ripped the letter from his hands. She had a similar reaction, but rather than collapsing, Christine let out a strangled cry.

"No." She said softly, her hands covering her mouth, her head shaking violently.

Dom was absolutely perplexed. He looked at Christine expectantly but she didn't move. She finally looked back up at him and his eyebrows were raised.

"I can't tell you this story. You need to hear it from her." She said softly. "You need to wake her up and make sure she is ok. It looks like she's gone into shock." She walked over to her friend and kissed her softly on the forehead. "I'll keep everyone outside. Be careful with her." She said meaning it more than for just trying to wake her up and she left.

Maria felt hands on her face, soft and gentle stroking her brow. Within about a second the letter popped back into her mind and she screamed, batting away the hands that held onto her. She screamed louder when they gripped her arms and held her there lying down. She felt naked and the last time she was in this position with someone holding her down was the most miserable experience of her life. She kept thrashing, kicking out her legs and screaming until she felt the arms wrap around her, picking up her and pulling her against a warm smooth body. Lips crashed down on hers and finally the darkness evaporated from her vision and she realized it was Dom. She broke down and started crying once again, shaking horribly.

He sat on the couch with her on his lap and wrapped them both in a blanket. He hoped that his body heat would help calm her down. He kissed her head softly, rocking her ever so gently.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry." She said softly after she had calmed down. What felt like memories from another lifetime were flowing through her brain and she was having a miserable time trying to keep them out. She wrapped her arms around him and he held her there for a while in silence until finally she broke it. "I do need to tell you the truth and I'm sorry I have lied to you."

She pulled back and looked into his eyes. They were almost blank, his face revealing nothing. She touched the lines of his face and kissed him softly.

"There are a lot of things that I need to explain to you and I haven't talked about them for too many years. I don't know how to talk about them without…without losing it." She shook her head.

"Lets go upstairs." He said softly. She made a move to stand up but Dom simply held her tighter and stood up off the couch with her in his arms. He carried her up to the room and sat her down on the bed and turned to lock the door. He heard the rustling of the blankets and when he turned back around, Maria was wrapped in the blanket, her face barely showing. He could see her nose and her huge terrified, empty eyes.

"It happened when I was sixteen." She said, her voice miles away. "My father, like I have said, was murdered. He had a gambling problem and owed too much money to too many dangerous people. Of those dangerous people was the Romani family. They were the premier family in organized crime in Las Vegas, which is where I'm originally from.

"My father wasn't a bad man at all. He did have a gambling problem but he never hurt a fly. He thought that he had a sure thing on some horse races out in California so he bet about ten thousand dollars on one race, thinking that if he could double the money he had he could pay off his debts and we would be ok.

"This wasn't the first time they had tried to hurt us." She said, absently. Dom remained silent watching her rocking as she told the story.

"They took my father's car and broke his arm the first time he tried to tell them he couldn't pay them back. They gave him a few months to come up with the rest of the money so that's when he went to the bookie and tried to make something of what he had left." Her voice became thicker and she began to cry harder.

"When he lost at the races, it was the last straw. They took both of us and said they were going to kill us because of his stupid mistake." She looked up at him with dark empty grey eyes. She had stopped crying, but her lip was still shaking, "They raped me in front of him before they slit his throat." She said, a miserable smile on her lips, "But they weren't done there." Her voice was bitter, angry. "They kept me around for a few months, since I had no family and no fucking way to escape." She didn't cry, but her voice began to shake. "That's when they found out I was pregnant."

"With Luca?" Dom said. She nodded and began to cry again. Not just soft feminine tears but huge, shaking, gut wrenching sobs that tore through her body and strained her vocal cords. Dom crawled onto the bed and wrapped his huge arms around her and kissed her neck softly. He was afraid she wouldn't want to be touched after that story, but she just folded herself into him.

"They made me marry Tito, the youngest of the Don's sons and the most sadistic if you ask me." She whispered, "He said he was the only one who wanted me after what the rest of the men had done to me, but the truth is, most of them were already married.

"I wouldn't have done it. I would have just let them kill me, but he said if I didn't he would beat me so bad that my child would be killed and then they would chain me up and keep me for whenever they got lonely.

"I honestly didn't want the baby to die. I wasn't afraid of him. I was afraid of what he'd become if I let him live. I tried to kill myself," She motioned to paper-thin scars on her arms that seemed to have faded back into her skin so that they were barely noticeable, "But they found me before I could bleed out. I would rather die my way than give them the fucking satisfaction of killing me. When Luca was born they actually named him after Giuseppe Romani, the 'Don' who evidently participated in the entire extravaganza." She said his name the same way some people might say _pedophile._ "But I called him Luca to myself. I don't care what his birth certificate says, he is _not_ that monster's child."

Dom was breathing quietly, holding her tightly, "How did you get away? I assume Tito is dead?"

She snorted, "Far from it. His father fell ill and the family left to take care of him in a Northern Las Vegas hospital - praise the lord that evil fucker is dead. I was too sick to go so they left me at home with Luca and a nursemaid. When I say too sick, I mean that I had four broken ribs and a raving UTI because of a disagreement that Tito and I had about Luca's Godparents. He also fucked me up pretty rough, raped me a few more times because I never went willingly. I'm pretty sure he damaged something. The doctors said they don't think I'm able to have children anymore. That's when I left finally. He said he'd always find me and kill me and take Luca away forever so I stayed. I didn't want him to hurt Luca and I didn't want to leave Luca alone with those animals. That's when he beat me up for the last time. Luca was only one years old and Tito broke his arm because Luca wouldn't stop screaming and reaching for me when Tito was holding him." She chuckled absently again. She turned to look at him and Dom was so broken by what he saw.

"I took Luca and nothing else. They still had my father's car so I stole it and pulled out as much cash as I could from an ATM with Tito's credit card. I canceled my credit cards and my cell phone on the way. I threw it out a window somewhere in Colorado five years ago and never looked back. I drove around for a while and hid out with some friends of Christine's – she had a lot of people that she could trust and a lot of family that wasn't exactly on the right side of the law – but in all honesty, I didn't care what they did, I just needed to get away and protect my son. And Christine and her mother always considered me to be part of the family and they take care of their own. Christine took me in for a while and protected me until I got better. Some connections of her uncle hooked me up with a new identity – drivers license, social security, the works. They even had my old identity officially declared dead since the idea of divorce is looked down upon in Tito's family." She laughed at that. "They'll rape a man's daughter in front of him and then kill him, but they don't believe in divorce…Fucking pigs."

She wiped at her face and sniffled, "I think he's found me and I don't know how. The fact that he used my new name confused me." She said softly. "He refused to call me anything but Domonique. Said it wasn't elite enough for his family to call me Kiki like everyone else. Alena Maria was my great grandmother's name. I'm not sure why he would think he could find me with that. It's not like he knew anything about me other than my name and my father." She broke down again, "I don't know what to do." She was sobbing again, "He'll find me. He'll kill me and he'll take Luca."

Dom wrapped his arms around her tighter, holding her still as she fought against him. His entire body was buzzing with fury. He'd never had darker images fill his head compared to what he was thinking about doing to Tito if he ever got his hands on him. He was clenching his jaw, holding back the anger that was seething from him and he kissed her head softly.

"They wont touch you." He growled.

Maria was shaken by his voice. She'd never heard him talk like that before. She realized then, that if death spoke, it would sound like that. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his shoulder. "I'm terrified. I can't go back to that. _Ever_."

"I'd never let you." He put his hands on her face and pulled it to his. It was a sort of terrified frenzy that lead them to kissing each other. Maria went from sitting in his lap, like a child, to being underneath him. The gloriousness of his weight pressing down on her and proving that he was real. The kiss was hard, fast, and frantic. Dom wanted to reassure her and prove to her that she was _his_ now and no one would touch her if they valued their life. Maria just wanted to prove to herself that he was there and that for once in her life, she could almost feel safe.

He had her stripped of the small bathing suit in a few quick moves while she shimmied down his board shorts with her feet. When they were off she kicked them to the floor and wrapped her legs around him as far as she could and pulled him to her. He lifted her hips and pushed himself inside of her with a groan, losing himself in the way she felt beneath him, wrapped around him, and moaning his name.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear while he thrust deep inside of her.

She gasped softly, "I love you too." But before the last syllable sounded his mouth was on hers again.

One large hand was lost in her hair, holding her lips in place while he assaulted them. The other was gripping her hip and pulling her closer to him with each thrust. She was moaning into his mouth and when he went to kiss her cheek he felt the tears. He almost stopped, for fear of him hurting her – it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Don't stop." She said softly. He slowed down slightly and she opened her eyes and looked deep into his. He was right, they were teary but not from pain. "Please?" She said it in a soft whisper and Dom lost all semblance of himself.

He pulled her lips to his again and continued to claim her body as his. She yelped lightly and buried her face into his shoulder, biting the skin there and making him take in a sharp breath while he felt her nails on his back. Her body started to shake and he felt her orgasm crash over her.

"Please Dom. Don't stop." She whispered into his ear. He thought she was crazy if she actually believed he'd ever say no to that. The last thing he ever wanted to do was stop making love to her. Her legs wrapped around his waist and he felt her ankles lock in place. She became infinitely tighter and he felt his body tighten before he released inside of her.

He rolled to the side, pulling her with him and held her as close as he possibly could. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" He said into her hair.

"No." She laughed, still a bit sniffley. "That was just incredibly intense for me." She smiled. "I can't believe I cried, I feel like such a dope."

He smiled and lifted her chin so he could kiss her lips, "I think you're rather amusing."

She jabbed him in the side and laughed, "Jerk."

He kissed her forehead, "You are part of this family now and we protect our own too." And his voice grew deeper, "If he is stupid enough to come after you, I swear it will be for the last time."

She closed her eyes and held him close, "I don't want anyone to be hurt. Its not these people are just plain old vicious bastards. They are pure evil. I swear it."

"This ain't our first time around the block either sweetie." He grumbled. "We don't take kindly to threats."

"Yea?" She smiled.

"Yea." He agreed and kissed her hard again.


	13. Chapter 13

-13-

"So mommy," Luca started out, sounding very confident, "When will Dom be able to take me out racing?" He was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping his orange juice.

Maria slowly turned around silently cursing Dom, Leon, Vince and Jesse for influencing her son too much. She also vowed that she would rather cut off her pinky finger before she'd let her son go to the races. Women dressed in skirts that stopped higher on their legs than he did. She sighed and smiled at her boy.

"Sweetie, you aren't old enough to go to the races. You have to at least be able to drive." She smiled.

"But I know how to drive!" He spat out and a look of absolute terror spread across his face.

"Excuse me?" Maria said, clenching her jaw shut.

Luca dropped his head and banged it against the table, "I am SO busted."

"Ex­-_scuse_ me!?" She almost yelled. "What do you _mean_ you _know_ how to drive?"

He picked his head back up and looked at her apologetically, "Sometimes they let me sit on their laps and let me steer the wheel. Vince says I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

Maria gripped the counter so tight she was afraid her fingernails were going to pop off. "Vince?" She scoffed and bit her lip hard to keep from yelling at her son. God knows her father used to let her do the same thing when she was younger but it was _her_ father and she was absolutely sure no one had asked her for permission.

"Are we in trouble?" He asked, softly.

Maria exhaled a deep breath, "Heaps." She tried to keep the acid from her voice, "I understand that was very exciting for you and it was nice of Vince and whoever to offer this, _but_ I need you to remember that you need to be responsible and _ask_ mommy before you do stuff like that." She said to her son, watching him now as he held his breath as if to prepare for some sort of fury. "Its just so I don't have to worry about what you are doing. Be honest with me and I'll be honest with you." She stuck out her fist with the pinky finger extended.

"Deal." He smiled and intertwined his pinky finger with his mom. "Pinky swear?"

"Absolutely." She smiled and finished cleaning up their breakfast. Luca was abnormally silent for the first few minutes. He was chewing on his food quite deliberately, with much thought.

"Hey mom?" He said, twisting his spoon slowly around in his oatmeal.

"Yes baby?" She smiled, looking up from her book and her cup of coffee.

"Do you love Dom?" He asked, his cheeks burning red.

Maria froze with the cup to her mouth. She was pretty sure when she was seven years old she didn't notice anything romantic and mushy about anyone else. She was a tomboy and knowing her son, he was about as _boy_ as you can get. She sighed and knew that she couldn't lie to him, "Yes."

He nodded his head, not seeming too upset by that fact, "Are you going to get married?"

It was her turn to ram her head into the table, but she didn't. She smiled gently at her son and took a breath, "I don't know baby. I do care about him, but my main man is you. The only way I'd let another man into my life is if you gave me the go ahead." She smiled and her son blushed again. He nodded, smiling slightly.

"What was dad like?" It was almost a whisper and it caught Maria way off guard.

She closed her eyes, trying to fight off the fear she had been feeling for the past week and a half since the incident at the water park. She had barely been sleeping because every tiny noise in her house just about gave her a heart attack. She didn't like being alone but also didn't like to make Dom stay every single night simply because she was completely scared out of her wits. She shook her head and brought herself back to the moment. She looked back at her son, his bright eyes wide and curious. She knew she would have to tell him the truth one day, she just didn't hope it would be this soon. He didn't know the gory details of Maria's past and she didn't feel like he needed to know all of it until he was old enough to understand – seven was way too young to have to deal with everything she went through, but then again, so was sixteen.

"I think I'll keep you home today." Maria sighed. She got up from her seat and called the school, letting them know Luca would not be going in today. It was hot outside already – naturally – though it was still early in the morning. She hugged her son tightly and told him to get ready because they were going to go for a drive. He grabbed a hat and a light sweater, just in case they decided to drive to New York and left the house.

It wasn't until they reached the park and were seated at a bench underneath a large tree until she started talking. Luca was munching on some fruit snacks they had got from the store – their favorite.

"Your father," Maria started, sighing, trying to keep her voice from breaking, "is not a good person."

Luca looked confused at this, he didn't know anything about his father except that he was dead and not allowed to talk about him. In all honesty, he was simply surprised by the fact that his mother said _is_ and not _was_.

She caught the look and took a deeper breath, "You know how there are people out there who just like to hurt others?" He nodded. "The ones that take advantage of people and lie and steal and cheat? Well your father was one of them. He wasn't good to us and so I left him. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure he was unhappy about it. I m-," she tried not to gag on the word, "met your father when I was very, _very_ young. Some things happened and we ended up getting married, but he was not a good guy. He didn't have a good heart and he was very greedy and selfish." She sighed again – how could she get away with this without the proper phrasing: Piece of Shit Cock sucker seemed to work, but she didn't want to introduce Luca to that yet. "He also didn't have a good job and he had a lot of friends who weren't much nicer than he was."

"Is that who tried to take me away?" His voice quieted by the sound of the thick hot wind in the trees.

"Not him exactly, but someone who works for him." She felt a tear escape but hid it quickly, "He wants to take you back because he thinks that you belong with him instead of me." Luca's eyes went wide with fear and he crushed himself into her.

"No!" He said violently, "No he can't have me! I want to stay with you!!"

Maria wrapped her arms around him and kissed her head, "I know baby." She said quietly, running her fingers through his hair, "And I promise now, I will never_ ever_ let him hurt you or me ever again. You are my life and the only thing that matters to me."

"I love you mom." He said and hugged her tightly. Her arms were already wrapped tightly around him, but she felt like she needed him to be infinitely closer. She wanted to protect him and watch over him always and not let anything near him that would cause him pain like she had felt. She kissed his head softly and they both relaxed in each other's arms.

They sat side by side for a while, watching the sun and the sky change above without any help from them. They watched the ducks play in the little man made lake before them, splashing around and trying to stay cool in the horridly hot New Mexican sun. She smiled and held her son close to her, relishing in the way he felt against her side.

He would forever be a part of her. And she would never be able to stop him from being the most important force in her life.

"Mommy?"

"Yea?"

Luca was silent for a few beats. His arm lifted slowly and pointed towards their car, "Who's that man by your car?"

Her head snapped up and her heart started beating rapidly. He was tall and had dark features. He was smoking a cigarette by her car, leaning on it.

Enzo.

Maria bit her lip to keep from screaming. She looked around frantically and found some security guards leaning against the hot dog stand, talking to the cute blonde girl behind it. She stood up and pulled on Luca's hand.

"See the security men Luca?"

"Yes mommy." He was obviously scared.

"Go over to them and tell them that there is a dangerous man by our car. Make sure both of them come." She said, her tone deadly.

While Luca started running the short distance Maria watched him out of the corner of her eye and made her way over to Enzo.

"Well lookie here." He smiled and flicked his cigarette at her. She dodged it barely, catching some of the ash on her pant leg. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Get the fuck away from me."

He was looking past her, "That your boy?" He smiled, but it wasn't kind. It was cruel.

"Fuck you." She hissed through her teeth, her arms flexing as she balled her fists. He put his hands up in mock surrender, smiling at her.

"Hey Maria, I don't want to cause nothing here." He smiled, "I just thought I'd drop by and say hello. I've been looking forward to seeing you again. But you never do look quite as appealing as you did that night. In that cute little wig and that fantastic outfit."

"Back off Enzo. You don't fucking scare me." She rasped.

He chuckled softly, "Not that I was tryin' but hey," he shrugged, "I thought I'd let you know that we have some friends in common."

Her eyes narrowed, "I don't know anyone who would want to be considered your friend."

His smile turned into a bit of a grimace as his eyes turned into dark slits, "Oh no? I happen to know that this friend of mine is really interested in finding out more about you. About your boy. About who you've been fucking."

"Piss off." She growled.

He laughed again, "You are full of piss and vinegar today, aren't ya sweetie? Course, my friend he says you were quite the lady back in the day." He smiled again, "Told me about lots of great times he used to have with you." He was silent again for a long couple of seconds. "And your dad." Maria blanched and he noticed. He laughed quietly and took a few steps towards her, "He'd be interested to know who you've been hanging around with. Offered me and my friends quite a bit of money to let him know actually."

"You're a piece of shit." She said, but her voice broke, all of her fire gone.

"Now that's not a nice thing to say to a friend." He smiled, "Especially since the only thing I let him know was that you were taking your stupid blonde brat and your fuck buddies out for his birthday. But now that you are being so condescending and you haven't allowed me the pleasure of taking you out, maybe I'll call him up right now and let him in on the secret."

"No." She said quietly, putting her hand up as if she could stop him.

"What would you do for me?" He smiled evilly.

She felt a sob coming and tried to hold it back, "What do you want?"

He smiled, "Now that's more like it."

That's when the officers walked up, "Excuse me sir, but you are going to have to leave."

Enzo smiled, looking past Maria again and watching the two rent-a-cops with their hands on their belts as if they had anything to threaten him with. Luca was now behind his mom, hugging her leg and glaring at Enzo, trying to seem tough.

"Absolutely _officers_," He said, full of disgust, "I was just saying hello to my old friend, _Domonique."_ He watched Maria's eyes widen and he saw her hands drop and start shaking. "I'll send Tito your regards." He smiled, "All I'll be talking to you, very soon." He winked at Maria and turned quickly, disappearing into the valley of cars.

"Everything okay ma'am?" The officer asked, touching her shoulder. She visibly shuddered and turned to him, nodding.

"Luca get in the car." Luca ran around to the car and Maria unlocked it quickly.

The officer still had his hand on her shoulder and he turned her to face him, "You okay to drive?"

She nodded again, but didn't trust her voice.

"Good." He said quietly, "Now go home and call this number if you want your life here to be kept a secret." He rasped and Maria froze as he shoved the paper into her back pocket. "Be safe." He winked and turned, laughing with his partner and walking back towards the park.

Maria jumped into her car and locked the doors. She started the engine and pulled out as quickly as she could, her tires squealing in protest as her car accelerated before it was ready.

"Mommy?" Luca's voice was shaking.

"Its ok baby, everything is ok." She was assaying it mostly for him, but was trying feverently to convince herself as well.

She drove almost a hundred the entire time she was heading home. She was about to pull off onto the highway leading her back to her small town, but was terrified of what she might find there. She kept going straight, heading to the only place where she felt remotely safe.


	14. Chapter 14

Sorry its been taking me so long to update. I've had a lot to do with school and work. I also have been sick really bad twice in the last three weeks. BAH! Well I hope you enjoy the new chapter and thanks again for all the reviews!!!

-14-

When she reached the garage her hands were gripped on the steering wheel with so much force that her fingers ached. She knew once she let go she would start shaking furiously again and she didn't want Luca to see it. She had held herself together for the entire trip back and she wasn't about to fall apart now. Not when her son needed her to be strong.

"Mommy?" Luca said, his voice thick with tears.

She let go of the steering wheel automatically and pulled her son to her, hugging him tightly, "This is _nothing_ for you to worry about baby. Everything will be ok. I promise you. But you need to calm down for me, ok? We need to walk in there and I need to talk to Dom and Mia." He nodded against her chest and she kissed his forehead. She pulled up his face to look into his red, horrified eyes and she almost broke. She stroked his face and stared at him helping him calm down enough so that the tears weren't flowing as freely and his breathing was close to normal. "Ready?"

"Yes mommy." He said softly. They both climbed out of the car and walked into the garage area. She saw Jesse and Leon brighten automatically once they saw her and Luca. Jesse frowned slightly, noticing that they both looked a little shaken. She nodded to him and mouthed _later_ and so he grabbed Leon and Luca and pulled them over to the car they were working on.

Once Luca was absorbed she basically ran into Dom's office, tears streaming down her face.

When she walked in, Dom's entire face brightened with a smile. He got up to go give her a hug and noticed right away that something wasn't right.

He pulled her to him and she started sobbing into his filthy chest. He kicked the door closed and held her tighter, "What happened?"

He waited a few minutes until the sobs were no longer shaking her and she finally answered. "He's found me. I know for sure now." She rasped.

"How?"

"I don't know. But I saw Enzo today." She felt Dom stiffen, "He's the one who told Tito about us at the water park for Luca's birthday. He's involved in all of this and I have no fucking clue why."

Dom tightened his hold on her and kissed her forehead. "I'll have to have a talk with him."

It was Maria's turn to go deathly still. She grabbed Dom's shoulders, getting up on her tippy-toes, "Domonic you _cannot_ deal with this! They are completely psycho!" She let go of him and stepped away. Her hands started shaking and she looked out the small window on his office door to see Luca playing with Leon and Jesse. "We have to leave. That's the only way I can keep us safe."

Dom yanked on her arm, pulling her back to him, "You _do not_ have to leave. You hear me?" He said a little more vehemently than he originally planned. He visibly calmed and put his hand against her cheek, "No one here wants to lose you."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened them the look in Dom's eyes broke her heart. She bit her lip softly, "How am I supposed to protect my son?"

Dom got very serious, "You stay here. You're in our family now and he wont touch you. If he does he'll finally understand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that kind of power."

Maria pushed away from him, "Dom," She said softly, her voice breaking, "I cant do that. I can't risk the lives of your family to protect mine! He is after me! _My_ son! He has killed before, what thinks he won't kill you? Or Mia?" She was yelling now, "He's taken _everything_ from me. I wont let him take anything else!"

Dom shook her, "You think running away will solve this? You think he'll stop chasing you now?" His voice was booming, "You've been gone for six years and he hasn't looked for you, why do you think he's after you _now_?"

She pushed him off, "Because for once in my fucking life I'm happy! Of course he'd find me! He doesn't care about Luca! All he cares about is destroying anything fucking meaningful! He wants to find me, kill me, take Luca and destroy everything I've been working for these past six years." Her voice finally broke, "I'll run for the rest of my life if it keeps Luca away from him."

Dom grabbed her again and pulled her in for a crushing hug, "You don't have to run anymore. I promise I'll protect you."

She pushed him away again. Fire was burning through her and her blood was pumping furiously through her veins, "I don't _want_ you to alright?" She screamed, his face was all stone, "He _will_ kill you and I don't want that on my fucking head, alright? I barely know you! I'm not part of your family. It's me and Luca and no one else!! Every time I fucking involve someone they end up dead or worse! I can't have that on my conscience! I can't deal with any of this shit anymore!"

That was when Dom moved so fast it caught Maria off guard. He had her pinned up against the wall, holding her about a foot off the ground with one hand holding her arms above her head and the other arm around her waist.

"What the fu-,"

Dom crashed his lips on hers. For a moment she tried to fight back. She jerked her body and tried to push him away but it was pointless. The man was a wall and in all honesty – she didn't really want to move all that bad. Finally she gave up and started to kiss him back. Once he felt her relax, he let go of her arms, which automatically encircled his neck.

"You don't get off that easy," He growled into her mouth. "You can't come here and fall into our lives, treating me like you do and expect me to just let you go." He could taste the tears that were falling down her cheeks. "You can't expect me to let you do that."

"Please," She gasped against his lips, "Please just let me go."

He growled again. "No!" And he kissed her harder. One hand went to the blinds on the office door window she was pinned beside and hit them shut. His hand tangled in her hair and he pulled his lips against her with more force than before. "You. Are. _Mine_. And nothing can change that."

"Please." But it was said much differently this time. Instead of a farewell it was more of a need. An acute painful need to feel safe, wanted, and protected. And if anywhere, in Dom's arms, is where she would be able to feel it most.

"You're lucky I don't have much shit on my desk." He growled again, carrying her over to his desktop and sitting her on the edge. He brushed the hair that was at her neck to the side and his lips descended over the sensitive skin. He was licking and nipping at her neck listening to the soft moans coming from her mouth.

"But Luca-,"

"Honey," Dom smiled, slipping his hands underneath her long skirt and scooting it up above her knees, "The kid loves seeing you happy and I love making you happy. I'm gonna be sticking around and so are you and he needs to understand one of these days why his mommy is gonna be pregnant again."

The statement itself didn't catch her off guard, but the feelings evoked from the statement did. It was that moment when she realized just how integral Dom was to her now. More than ever she wanted to have a child with a man that she loved that she could take care of. That could take care of her and her son.

He kissed her as he laid her down, scooting her so her behind was at the edge of the desk. His hands slipped under her skirt again and slowly pulled off her underwear, kissing her tanned legs all the way down and back up. His lips brushed her inner thighs and he felt her shiver. He realized then that he hadn't been with Maria for a few days and his body was tingling with anticipation. He let his tongue snake out over the tender skin and he heard the whimper from above. He cupped her buttocks in his large hands and lifted her hips to meet his mouth, thrusting his tongue inside of her and her taste drove him mad.

He knew she was fighting off the noises he loved to hear her make by the way she squirmed in his hands and whimpered with closed lips. He nipped at her exposed flesh, nibbling lightly on her throbbing clit and she let a tiny scream escape.

He smiled and stood up while she sat up with him. He tugged his shirt off while she managed to get his pants undone and sliding down his hips. Once she was done with that, he grabbed the hem of her white t-shirt and pulled it up and over her head. His hands drew her closer to him and undid her bra letting the material slide off of her body while he took her breasts into his hands. He kissed down her neck and took one of the small hard buds into his mouth, licking and biting it softly while her hands squeezed his shoulders. She pushed against his chest softly and he sat back. She smiled and slid back on the desk.

She crooked her finger at him and motioned for him to come, "Get over here."

"Gladly." He smiled and climbed on top of the table, pressing her beneath him. He felt her skin prickle once he was touching her and he smiled.

"Your desk is cold." She smiled, kissing him as he wiggled out of his boxers.

"I'll try to make it fast so you aren't so inconvenienced." He smiled, kissing her breasts once more.

"Please," She smiled and sighed as he pushed himself inside of her, "Take your time."

"Yes ma'am." He cooed and started to move slowly inside of her, watching her body arc beneath him as he pushed further and further with each thrust.

She never seemed to tire of his body as glorious as it was, but that wasn't even the best part of their lovemaking. As limited as she was in that knowledge, she was sure he was the best she could ever even imagine having. He used his body in imaginative ways but was never shy about wanting to touch, to feel more, and to taste every inch of Maria's body. She loved the way his eyes melted when he was inside of her, the way his body molded to hers when he touched her.

Her breathing was coming a little more labored now and Dom's speed was increasing. He pulled his lips away and straightened his body up gazing down at her and watching her hips move to meet his thrusts.

"God I love when you do that." He smiled, holding her hips up as her entire body rolled to meet him. He reached one hand in between them and started to rub her clit in a circular motion, applying more pressure when he pushed inside of her. He felt her tighten around him and he saw her eyes close and roll into the back of her head. "Come for me sweetheart."

"Oh Dom." She smiled. Her entire body seemed to warm at his touch. As he moved inside of her it seemed to pull the heat from her fingertips into her center, building and churning deep between her hips. When he pressed his fingers against her, she couldn't stop what he had started. Her heart picked up the pace and she felt him pushing himself harder into her.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Their bodies came together one last time and their orgasms washed over them and they fell into each other, wrapping themselves around one another, kissing and tasting the sweat on their bodies.

She smiled into his kiss and he pulled at her skirt, which was hiked up, to her waist, "I really like this skirt."

She rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder. "One track mind."

"You know it." He growled and kissed her again. They started pulling their clothes on again and Maria was fighting with herself to ask him about what he had said.

"Dom?" She said softly.

He turned to watch her as she pulled on her t-shirt and slid on her underwear beneath her skirt. "Yeah?"

She sighed, "Never mind."

"No," He said grabbing her hand as she turned away, "Tell me."

She looked up at him and he smiled with all the sincerity he could muster. She sighed again and closed her eyes, "What did you mean by what you said?"

"The skirt?" He smiled, though he knew that wasn't what she was talking about, "Its cute."

She laughed, "No, that's not what I meant. What did you mean by me getting pregnant?" She looked up at him and his face was thoughtful.

"You wouldn't want that?" He asked quietly.

"To be pregnant again? Sure. I loved it. But what I mean is," She sighed, "_You_ would want to be the dad?"

He wrapped her up in his arms, "Why not? I've never had anything like that before. And I meant it when I said I love you and I love Luca. I'm not saying today or tomorrow or even next year. But you are mine now. I want you in more ways that I know how to express." He smiled and he felt her shaking. "What? What did I say?"

She looked up at him, her eyes furious, "Why are you so _nice_ to me?"

He laughed, very loudly, "That's the way it's supposed to be."

She smiled nervously, "So what does this mean?"

Dom chuckled, "We'll talk about all of this once this mess is over. You are staying. I will protect you. Nothing will stop that."

She sighed into his arms, "I hope so."

It was dark outside that night. The sky was clear and the air was faintly warm.

Menotti Sansone was exiting his car with a cigarette in his mouth. His date for the night was wiggling out of her seat as much as she could with her magnificently tight dress stretching over her bulbous breasts. He had just dished out for a pricey meal and was intending on taking the bitch back upstairs and fucking her six ways from Sunday. He blew out his last lungful of smoke and squashed his cigarette beneath his pricey boot. He adjusted his lapels and turned to see the woman staring at him, her eyes wide with fear.

"Mingee baby," She said in her bubbly voice, pointing to something behind him.

He turned slowly and saw the black clad fist right before it connected with his face and her scream started to fade just before he blacked out.

He woke up slowly. His entire face hurt and he was pissed off, "What the fuck?" He muttered to himself. He tried to move but he couldn't. He was strapped to a chair, duct taped in fact. Everything was dark around him except for a forty-watt bulb that hung from the ceiling. He felt like he was in a stupid gangster movie. What did failed to realize that he _was_ a stupid gangster and most likely had deserved what was coming to him.

"Menotti Sansone." The voice said from afar, "Been a long time."

"What the fuck do you want?" He growled.

"Hit the lights." And then the lights came on. Menotti looked around. He saw all the forms around him clad in black with ski masks on, except one. "Toretto? What the fuck do you think you're doing? Once my dad hears about this he'll fucking gut you."

Dom snorted, "Please. You think I plan on letting you go back alive if you don't answer me? I could give less than a shit about you. I want to know about Tito Romani and what the fuck he wants with the state of New Mexico."

Menotti laughed, "Romani? Are you kidding me? I'm not talking about that crazy bastard."

Dom didn't look pleased. One of the dark figures walked over and punched Menotti hard in the stomach. He coughed hard and looked up at Dom. Another figure behind him was holding a baseball bat.

"What the fuck is your problem Toretto! You think my dad wont kill each and every one of your stupid goons once he sees me?" He spat.

Dom chuckled, "Like I said before, we don't plan on giving you back." He smiled, but it was dark, "At least not all at once."

Now Menotti knew better than to test Toretto. He'd seen what had been done to the people that had crossed Toretto and his crew. He also remembered how badly his brother had gotten it when he messed around with Toretto's woman. In all honesty, he didn't want to be hospitalized for three weeks with a tube in his face like his brother had been.

"Look I don't know much about him. Honestly." He said, feeling a little nervous.

"Wrong answer." Dom said in his gravelly voice. The baseball bat connected with his knee and he let out a blood-curdling scream. "You busted that leg in baseball right?" Dom smiled.

Menotti was sweating now, cursing a blue streak. He looked up at Dom who was smiling wide now and shaking his head. "I don't know nothin'."

"All of you guys think that you're so tough." He smiled, "None of you really know what pain is."

"Look Toretto I don't want to mess with this." Menotti shivered at the look in his eye.

"Too late, your brother got you and your family involved in my life." Menotti winced at the words.

"I don't have anything to do with your bitch-," Dom's fist interrupted that statement. Menotti was lifted off the ground but dropped rather quickly. He fell, still strapped to his chair over, onto his side and looked up and Dom was being pulled back by three of his black clad friends. Menotti laughed, "If I didn't know better Toretto I'd think you loved that bitch? Don't you realize how ruined she is? I heard what Tito and his brothers did to her and man, I wouldn't touch her snatch with a ten foot pole." He started laughing but that was cut short when the smaller one clad in black launched himself at Menotti. The chair rolled onto its back and the guy in black was on top of him wailing away at his face.

"Easy there tough guy." Menotti heard once the weight was lifted off of his chest. He couldn't open one eye, and he barely opened the other to watch as Dom pulled the smaller guy off of him. Once the smaller one was secured, Dom picked up the chair and set it right.

"Listen Menotti, you ever say anything like that again and I will personally rip out your fucking intestines and strangle you with them." He growled and spat in Menotti's face. He threw one last hard punch that knocked a few teeth loose.

"Fuck Toretto," He lisped and spat out blood.

"Where is he and what does he want?" Dom finally boomed.

"Look I don't know." He said shakily, "All I know is he wants her back and he plans to get her soon."

Down growled and kicked another chair in the room, sending it flying across the floor. He turned sharply and walked towards the door, he grabbed one of the dark men, "Clean him up and kick him out." He growled a disappeared.

"Hello?" The voice sounded exactly the same.

Maria gulped back her nausea, "What do you want?"

There was a low chuckle through the line that sent chills up her spine, "I've missed you."

She felt a surge of anger, "We both know that's bull shit."

He laughed again, "How do you know that?"

"Because I do!" She yelled. "Don't pretend that I don't know why you are all of the sudden so eager to find me."

"And why is that?"

"You tell me."

He laughed again, "Oh Domonique. I have missed your voice. How is little Guido?"

"Fuck you. _What_ do you want from me? You have _nothing_ to do with him."

"We'll see about that."

"Just cut the shit!" She screamed, her voice breaking. She was fighting hard to keep the tears from pouring down her cheeks.

"Easy Domonique, I don't like that to-,"

"My name is _not_ Domonique. Domonique is _dead_." She growled.

"Not yet." She could hear his smile.

"Is that a threat?" She growled.

"So what if it was?"

She was quiet for a few beats, "I know you don't love me." She said quietly, "Why can't you just leave us alone?"

"You took what's rightfully mine and I want it back." He growled, his voice losing all semblance of humanity. "You and Guido were _mine_."

"We aren't yours anymore, alright?" She said, the tears falling freely now. "Just leave us alone. I don't have any money, I don't have anything else you can take from me so just stop!"

"But that's half of the fun my love."

"Stop it!" She screamed. It was silent and he just laughed.

"I'd suggest being careful darling. Be very careful." He growled, "You wouldn't want something to happen to you, or your friends, or little Guido."

Her breath caught in her chest, "You wouldn't." She whispered and he just laughed again.

"No?"

"What do you want Tito?" She sobbed.

"That's more like it."


	15. Chapter 15

-Ch. 15-

Dom didn't see Maria the rest of that night. She had finally acquiesced and decided that moving in with Dom for the time being might be better for her and Luca. She had gone home to pack most of their stuff up. The only way he could keep his promise of protecting her was if she was constantly near him, God knows he had enough money to take care of them.

He was worried about them though; despite how he said he was not. If the Sansones, even a piss-ant like Menotti, were afraid of Tito, then it was something to be worried about. He had a huge desire to get his hands on Enzo first and then lay into Tito when he had the chance. Nothing would stop him from destroying both of them because of what they had done to his Maria.

It was funny how he thought of her that way now. She was no longer just Maria, she was _his_ Maria and everyone knew it. She sort of molded into his family and his world without any trouble. People respected her because she was smart, funny, and beautiful, not just cause she was Domonic Toretto's main squeeze. She became part of the daily routine without anyone really knowing how. Since she didn't exactly feel safe working at her old job, they let her run the store while Luca was at school so that Mia could catch up on her school work while everyone else was in the garage.

Her incorporation into their life didn't really come to 100% until one unexpected day when Luca asked Dom if he could call him 'dad.' Dom told Luca that he would love it, but he couldn't be considered his father yet. Luca was slightly impatient about it and fought Dom to the end about it.

"Well you love my mom right?" The wise little seven year old asked.

"Right."

"And you love me right?" Luca was trying to sound tough but Dom could tell he was a little too anxious to hear the answer.

Dom scrunched up his face, "I guess."

Luca just laughed, "So that's what a dad does, right? He loves the mom and the kid and he takes care of them."

"Well yeah but-,"

"Well but what? I'm definitely not calling the guy who is supposed to be my dad, 'dad.' That's a joke after how much he's hurt my mommy. I wish he was still dead." He grumbled morosely.

Dom couldn't exactly berate the kid because he felt the same way about his father, "Look, I'm not saying no, but there are some things I need to do before you can call me dad."

"Like marrying my mom?" Luca looked hopeful again.

Dom snorted, "She has to say yes first."

"But you _are_ gonna ask her?" Luca was prying.

Dom laughed, "That's for me to know and you to find out. Now look, I care a lot about you and your mom -,"

"Love! You said _loved_." Luca interrupted.

He nodded, "Yeah, but…" And it caught Dom off guard.

He still hadn't really answered Luca. Thankfully Jesse interrupted them so he didn't have to finish the conversation, but he was pretty surprised about all of this. First of all the kid was amazingly perceptive and smart. Second he did love them. Enough to not only take them into his home, but also enough to put his life at risk for them.

He frowned at that. He had never really sacrificed much for other people except for his family, he knew he would do anything for them. He realized he'd do anything for her also. His heart beat a little faster than before and he realized that this sort of feeling wasn't one he's had before. He had loved Letty, very much actually, but both of them were young and stupid and didn't take anything seriously. He had suffered a lot when she had left, but it was more like losing a friend as opposed to the sort of draw he had towards Maria.

He felt guilty for loving her and wanting her in his life, but he didn't see her resisting so he kept at it. He wanted very much to keep her all to himself – but he knew with her personality that would be the first step towards losing her. And he wanted to keep her, as long as he possibly could.

He jumped up and went over to his closet and pulled out a box of his parent's stuff. He hadn't really opened it since his father's death and he wasn't sure why de wanted to do it now. He set it on the floor and started looking through all of the stuff. A scrapbook Mia had made after their father's death and after they left Los Angeles containing all of his clippings from local newspapers and pictures of all of them together was there. There were a couple photo albums with pictures from their childhood, when Mia was a baby, when Dom was a baby, and when it was just their father and mother. He looked through the album of their wedding photos and smiled a lot. His mother was really beautiful and he didn't remember a lot about her. Partially because he was young when he lost her and also because he shut out most of the pain from her death a long time ago.

When he reached the end of the album he stopped on the last page. It was a beautiful heart with lace around the edges that had his parent's names and the date of their marriage in the center. Under their names and above the date was a pink ribbon tied in a bow with both of his parents wedding rings attached.

He was shocked to see them. He figured his dad must have put them in there when his mother died, because he doesn't remember seeing one on his father's hand. He pulled out the bow and examined the two rings. His father's was a thin band of silver with gold along the outside of the band, he slid it onto his finger and found that it fit perfectly. He laughed at that – for some reason he always felt like his dad was _bigger_ than him. He looked at his mom's and was amazed. It was silver and antiqueish. It had a diamond that was relatively big in the center of two sets of three smaller diamonds. The rest of the band had tiny diamonds set in it and it sparkled. A lot.

Dom smiled as he slid it on his pinky and it barely went halfway down. He looked down at the picture of his parents on their wedding day and felt a surge of strange emotions. He stared down at the rings again and realized just how badly he wanted to see it on Maria's finger. He slipped both rings quickly into his pocket and decided he'd go and get them cleaned and think about it more before he jumped the gun.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Maria fell into the doorway carrying a few bags. Dom smiled at her and reveled in the way her face brightened when she caught his look. "Luca is asleep in the extra room."

"Get all your stuff?" He smiled.

"All the stuff we need at least." She smiled and plopped herself on the bed next to him. "So you realize you aren't allowed to sleep in my bed anymore right? Since Luca's in it."

"He can scoot over."

She slapped him on the back of his head, "Dom! Ew!"

He started laughed and pulled her back onto the bed, wrapping his big arms around her. "What time is it?"

"Umm two a.m." She smiled.

"He's out like a light, he wouldn't even notice if you weren't in bed with him." She punched him again when his hand snaked up her shirt.

"Knock it off you!" She growled and rolled on top of him and started punching him semi-softly in the stomach.

He just laughed and pulled her down to him, attacking her lips with his. She almost struggled but then melted into his lips and curving herself into his body.

"Now that's definitely not something you can do to me and expect me to let you leave." He growled into her lips. She smiled and slowly climbed off him.

"Now _you_ don't understand what its like to be a mom and have to be the responsible one for you child. I have to behave." She laughed.

He sat up and watched her graceful moves as she climbed off of the bed and stood at the door, going to pick up her bag. She saw the box on the floor and looked back at Dom.

"Your parents?" She said quietly. He nodded. "Do you mind?" She motioned towards the box and he scooted to the edge of the bed and pulled up the pile of photo albums. She sat next to him and pulled the first one on her lap.

Maria opened the book and took a good look at the man and woman who would be Dom's parents. His father was big, like Dom, and he was impressive. He was attractive and he had a light smile. Dom had his eyes, which were large and dark, and the shape of his face. His mother was beautiful, much like Mia. Tall and skinny with long limbs and dark flowing hair. She could see that Dom had her mouth, wide and beautiful, with full lips. They were standing next to a black charger that looked more like a monster than anything else. She chuckled, remembering the first day she met the crew and the reaction they all gave when she told them the kind of car she had.

She flipped through the pages of pictures observing the growing relationship between Dom's father and mother as they got a little older. It looked like his parents had known each other for a long time because it wasn't until the next photo album that she saw that had pictures of a little baby Domonic. The parents weren't much older, but you could see that they had matured slightly.

She laughed at Dom's baby picture. He was a huge kid. Rolls upon rolls of skin surrounded his frame and his adorably round head was still bald. His cheeks were prominent and his eyes were still large, but held more laughter in them than they did now.

"Did you ever have hair?" She chuckled.

"Once…" He smiled. "I think it was a Tuesday."

She laughed and continued through the pictures. Photos of Dom as a little boy with his father in the garage, running around, covered in filth while the mother sat patiently to the side, rounded with her second child. More photos passed and Dom grew up. His chubbiness had spread and he became more of a sturdy toddler. There was no way he was going to escape looking like his father – beefy, strong, solid, and attractive. Next were pictures of Dom in the hospital, holding his little sister Mia. She was born with a head of hair that was thick and black. Her body and face was rounded as well, but not nearly as much as Dom.

Maria smiled at the picture of Dom, sitting on their home couch, with Mia in his lap. Pillows on either side of him supported the baby and he smiled widely up to the camera. So much so that his eyes were squinted, as if glaring into the sun.

She looked at these pictures and tried not to be envious. She missed out on the love of a family. She missed out on the love of a spouse and the joy of bringing a human into a world where he would be surrounded by love and not blood shed. She still would not trade anything for her Luca, however she wished the circumstances could be different. She slowly touched the picture of the entire family, all of them with huge smiles on their faces. Dom had a buzz, still no hair there. His father had his hair slicked back and the mother had gloriously thick curls coming down and framing her happy face. Mia was older now, probably around one, and she already had that happy smile that seemed to be stuck on her face, even during the darkest of times.

She went through all of the albums, even the wedding photos, and that was when she felt like she couldn't take much more happiness before her heart exploded.

"So this is what it's supposed to be like?" She whispered, tracing her fingers along the happy faces of the bride and groom, the gloriously white dress and black suit that contrasted so beautifully with their dark skin and black hair. She could see that the smiles they had on went past their eyes and radiated out from their entire being.

"Yeah," Dom said gruffly, "That's what it's supposed to be like."

Maria tried to contain it, but a tear fell out anyway. She wondered why on earth, she had suffered so much and gained so little. She realized she was absolutely blessed with a best friend and a beautiful son, but that was all she had ever had. She loved her father and he tried so hard to be there, but it wasn't easy being a single parent and he wasn't always around. She grew up spending most of her time reading in her father's favorite chair or playing on the fire escape of their small one bedroom apartment and imagining her life was very, very different. She flipped through the pages, being taken back in time where peace actually existed. How could this world be so different from hers?

She closed the book and smiled up at Dom who was watching her with brows furrowed. "I'm such a sap." She laughed.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her temple, "Nah, you're not. You're just a girl." He chuckled. She laughed into his chest weekly and also swatted his shoulder. "How about we go out tomorrow night? We'll all go dancing or something? Be free and crazy and all that shit?" He smiled.

She looked up at him, thoughtful. "We could, but I don't know about leaving Luca."

He shrugged, "Well, lets go to Santa Fe and stay in one of Christine's hotels. That way her mom can watch him and we can have a night together."

"What about the races?" Maria said, skeptically.

He smiled, "I think the racing community can survive without me for one night. Besides, I think they'll enjoy a night where I'm not taking all of their money."

Maria laughed and kissed his lips softly. Dom tried ardently to put a little more into the kiss but she pulled away. "You have a problem. You should be institutionalized."

Dom smiled and kissed her gently one last time, "Just go to bed before I lock you in here."

She laughed and kissed his cheek, "Goodnight my love." She whispered into his ear.

"Goodnight sweetheart."

And she left.

"So where exactly are we going?" Maria smiled at Christine who was playing knuckles with Leon across the seats in their stretch limo that she had confiscated for the night.

"A really good club uptown that plays practically everything. You'll love it!" She smiled. "We haven't been dancing for SO long I'm SO excited!"

She looked dazzling of course. She was wearing a tight white dress that cut low and tied behind her neck and fell loose at her hips and hung to just below her knees. It contrasted beautifully with her dark skin and long black hair that was curled to perfection with Mia's help.

"I know! Its so weird that all of us haven't gone dancing yet!" Mia smiled. When she looked around at the guys and saw all of their apprehensive faces, Maria understood why.

"I hate dancing." Vince groused. He was looking pretty snappy in a pair of black dress pants, black Italian loafers, and a black button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

"That's because dancing hates you," Jesse growled. His hair had been semi tamed and he was dressed in charcoal slacks, similar white loafers, and a royal blue dress shirt that made his eyes jump out. Leon just giggled while he played with Christine to the side. He was wearing tan slacks, some loafers like Vince, and a deep green sweater that contrasted nicely with his tan and rough beard.

"Why did I let you out in that?" Dom growled.

"Who me? Or Maria?" Mia smiled shimmying a little in her scoop necked silver backless top and black miniskirt.

"Both of you." He growled, "I'm going to have to fight off every male in sight."

"You don't look so bad yourself." Maria smiled, squeezing his hand. Maria's hair had grown a bit longer so that it touched the tops of her breasts, now that it was straightened within an inch of its life. She had on a vibrant yellow off the shoulder dress that hung tight to her curves all the way to just below her ass. Her makeup was simple and she absolutely glowed.

"Don't be such a party pooper." Christine spat. "If you don't dance with her, some guy _will_ and that's just the rules. No being a sour puss!"

Maria laughed, "Exactly! Because I just wanna dance!"

"Yeah!" Mia yelled, "Fuck guys tonight!"

"Let's just kick off our shoes and put our purses in the middle and just dance all night long!" Leon said in his girliest voice, which got everyone to erupt with laughter.

When they pulled up to the club, everyone stopped to stare. Christine and Mia put on their game faces and crawled out of the limo, trying not to show too much of what they had on underneath. Maria followed them with Dom on her heels and watched as all the men started drooling and all the girls gave their evilest looks. Mia and Christine grabbed Maria's hand and pulled her up to the front of the line.

"They see too many of us dark skinned beauties out here in the desert. They need to see some cute white ass!" Mia whispered harshly in her ear and slapped Maria on the ass. Maria giggled and sauntered up to the bouncer.

"Hi there." She smiled, her best attempt at flirting.

"Well hello." He smiled, "You on the VIP?"

"I sure hope so." She winked.

"Whas your name girl?"

"Maria." He made a show of looking on his list and smiled.

"Well there you are. How many people in your party?"

"Seven."

"Have a good time tonight." He smiled and opened the velvet ropes as they pushed themselves in.

Once inside everyone cheered on Maria's ability to get free shit, except for Dom who was looking a little miffed.

"Oh, don't be so sad big guy," Maria smiled, she kissed him on the cheek, "I'll let you do a body shot later if you smile for me."

He laughed and nibbled on her ear a bit, "I plan to do more than that later. That dress ain't gonna last long."

Maria visibly shivered, but not long before Mia and Christine grabbed her and pulled her to the bar. The boys groused and grabbed beers and a table while the girls ordered shots and started off the night right.

"This is not a bad night for observation," Jesse smiled eyeing a few cute girls across the bar.

"Damn right." Vince growled, lifting an eyebrow and the side of his mouth to look mysterious for the ladies.

"Yeah." Leon gulped as he watched Maria, Mia and Christine start dancing.

Dom was watching too and he realized he'd never actually seen Maria dance. Now he realized how much he had missed – and how much tighter his pants seemed to feel. He watched the girls twirl and shake their bodies perfectly in synch with the beat. He realized that Maria was extremely talented in the way she could move her body. He understood why she had wanted to be a professional dancer now.

She realized that he was watching her now and she played it up a little. She let her hands linger on all of his favorite places to touch her and she ran her tongue across her glossy lips. Dom almost dropped his beer and out of the corner of his eye he saw Leon shift uncomfortably.

"Shit." Jesse rasped.

"You better be looking at those two black girls over there Jesse." Dom growled.

"Uh huh, whatever Dom." Jesse said tonelessly. Vince just laughed.

Maria ran over to the bar with the girls in tow, still slightly dancing to the music and watched them order three beers. The bartender got an eyeful of Maria and winked at her a few times, which Dom did not like, however he let it slide for the time being. He watched her nod her head towards the group of guys and the bartender's eyes followed. He nodded and smiled and Maria returned to the dance floor with a beer in her hand.

The girls drained their beers and set them on the table, smiling at the boys for a moment and then returning to the dance floor. A few boys were eyeing the girls from the corner of the bar and finally one started making his way over. Dom was watching diligently until a waitress cut off his line of vision.

"From the girl in yellow," She smiled, putting down a tray of small shot glasses with some tan liquid in them and topped with whipped cream. "She said you guys don't need to be afraid in here. There are a lot of men that are your type and not shy."

Jesse started laughing hysterically. He grabbed the shot glass, tipped it towards Maria and took it down real fast. He smiled and licked his lips, "What was that?"

"It's called a blow job." The waitress smiled and then walked away.

The rest of the guys couldn't stop laughing because of the look on Jesse's face, but they dutifully grabbed their shots and downed them.

"Ok, lets get some more drinks in me and then I wanna dance!" Jesse smiled. He motioned to the waitress, ordered eight shots of Bacardi 151 and sent her off. Once the boys were sufficiently full of lighter fluid Jesse bounded out of his seat and over to the girls. He was immediately sandwiched by Christine and Mia.

And that's finally when Dom noticed that Maria was dancing with some other guy. He felt his temper surge and he wanted to grab the skinny weasel and throw him through the plate glass window, but he merely took a few deep breaths instead, because Maria smiled, pushed the man away, gave him a hug and dove into the Jesse orgy.

"Man I like her." Leon said. Dom raised an eyebrow and Leon just rolled his eyes. "Not Maria. Christine."

"Go dance with her." Vince laughed, draining the rest of his beer.

"Nah man, she's way out of my league." He smiled, "Plus the view ain't bad from here."

Dom just laughed, he couldn't disagree with that. "Lets go." He smiled, chugged his beer and pulled Leon and Vince out onto the floor with the rest of them.

Jesse was distracted by a leggy brunette with huge breasts, so Vince grabbed Mia, Leon grabbed Christine, and Dom grabbed Maria. He pulled her close to him, so that her back was to his front.

"Having fun?" He growled into her ear, brushing the hair off of her neck and kissing it.

"Absolutely." She smiled, twisting her hips and body with the music. He laughed and held onto her hips, moving with her and letting his hands trace the lines of her body.

A salsa song came on and Maria got excited. She was about to pull away from Dom to go find the guy from earlier who said he could salsa when he pulled at her hand, spinning her precisely into his arms and holding her hips to his.

"You salsa?" She asked, amazed.

"You don't?" He asked, coyly. She just rolled her eyes and let Dom lead.

He was actually a fantastic dancer. Of course, Maria had first hand knowledge of the kind of damage the man could do with his hips, and she realized she shouldn't be that surprised. He was a good partner too. He knew most of the spins and dips that Maria had learned from experienced dancers in her lifetime. He was strong and manipulated her body easily so that she had no problem following his lead and letting her body move with the song. He was even singing the words in a low, rumbling voice that made her entire body shiver.

"You're attractive, you can dance, you can cook, _and_ you can dress…" Maria looked him up and down quickly, "Are you sure you aren't gay?"

Dom let out a huge guffaw, "I'm sure you would have noticed that by now." He growled. His hand went to her lower back and he pulled her tightly against his hips, where she felt his growing erection.

"Point taken." She smiled, "No pun intended."

He smiled and the song was coming to an end. He spun her quickly and laid her into a deep dip so that she was only inches from the floor. When the song ended, people actually clapped for them. Maria blushed and looked back up at Dom who was still smiling.

"What _don't_ you do?" She laughed as the group headed to the bar.

"Crochet?" He said, asking for seven shots of 151.

Maria just laughed loudly, slapping him on the shoulder, "Now see! That's a deal breaker, right there." She smiled.

"To the night?" He smiled, handing her the shot.

"151?" She grimaced, "I haven't had this since high school." She took it fast trying not to let it disintegrate her taste buds, but failed. She blanched a little and coughed once, "To the night we wont remember."

"Oh, you'll remember." He smiled and pulled her back out onto the dance floor.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry its taken me so long to update. I thank you all for being so patient with me! Thank you for the reviews! I'm going to try to keep updating in order to get the story done. Enjoy!**

-16-

Now that Luca and Maria were living in the house people were being substantially cleaner. And Maria was ecstatic about it. She had seen the house herself when it was just them and it had been slightly scary – she wasn't sure what her son might contract if he ever walked on the floor barefoot, but thankfully they cleaned up a bit.

It was surprisingly easy to live with them. They all managed to fit themselves into a schedule of doing chores as well as being polite and making sure they weren't too loud when Luca was in bed – not that it mattered – and taking turns baby sitting for Maria while Dom tried to take her out during the week to give her a break.

The funny part of it was that Maria desperately missed Luca, so much so, that Dom, a few nights out of the week, insisted on a family night where they would all go out together, and Jesse and Leon actually complained. They had too much fun with Luca, getting to be children again, and not getting into trouble by "mommy" and "daddy" which everyone had started calling Dom and Maria without consent.

Maria had taken to managing the store quite efficiently. God knows there weren't many customers out in the middle of nowhere but she gladly kept the store clean and added a few new items to the store in order to get some money coming in, despite the fact that the real moneymaker was the garage.

She would see lots of people from the racing community coming in and out of the garage, getting upgrades or asking one of the crew to take a peak at their engines. The most work she got was preparing food for the garage dwellers, which they were ecstatic about. She didn't have much else to do and started plowing through books again in her spare time.

She kept in contact with Christine as much as they used to. Though Christine didn't need to watch Luca at night, it seemed that she had formed a tight bond with the group as well, spending most of her weeknights and almost all of her weekends in their company. Christine was making quite an impact on Leon as well. After one night of her showing up for dinner, Leon had taken to dressing up a bit more – much to be made of by everyone else, especially Jesse who teased him relentlessly.

It was this particular girls night out that Maria had finally decided to confront her about it. Maria, Christine and Mia sat around a table overflowing with delicious pizza and cheap beer.

"So…" Maria said skeptically, exhaling her puff of smoke, which in all honesty was her first one in a week and she didn't mind much.

"So…" Mia said in a similar fashion.

Both of them were staring at Christine with a similar pensive look on their face. "What!?" Christine growled, glaring back at them after a few minutes.

"What do you think of Leon?" Mia asked first.

"Leon?" Christine smiled and blushed slightly, "He's a nice guy. He's really funny and he's cool to be around. Laid back and all that shit."

"Yeah?" Maria smiled.

"Yes." Christine said tersely grabbing her drink and chugging some of it.

"You _like_ him?" Mia asked.

Christine rolled her eyes and slammed her drink down, "Yes! Okay? I do like him. He's extremely nice to me and even though I know jack shit about cars and racing I still find topics to discuss with him and have good conversations. He also drinks well and has an amazing body and is really fucking attractive!" Mia and Maria giggled, "Anything else?"

They shook their heads and laughed. "It's ok to like boys, you know." Maria smiled.

Christine rolled her eyes, "I haven't had a boyfriend in like five years. Why would I want one now? I usually have no real use for men…well except _one_ thing." She smiled.

Mia frowned slightly, "Well you're right. Leon is like my brother. He is a great guy and I have to say, he's too good for a one night stand – even though he'll never admit it, the boy wants a girl bad."

Christine laughed, "I wouldn't just drop him. He _is_ too nice for that." She said thoughtfully.

"Well it wouldn't kill you to have a boyfriend." Maria smiled, "Especially Leon. You know he's not out to use you for money or like furthering ambitions or some shit."

"True." Mia said, "He's happy with where he is in life and doesn't think he'll change too soon."

"I can respect that." Christine said, blushing again. "Anyways, enough about me. What about _you_?"

"Me?" Maria and Mia both said in unison and everyone joined in for a laugh.

"Mia, how are you and Vince?" Christine smiled. Maria forced herself to look confused. She had noticed the kinds of looks Mia was giving Vince and visa versa she had also seen them holding hands while watching TV thinking that no one else was watching, but she had kept all of this to herself.

It was Mia's turn to blush furiously, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Christine laughed, "Please! I know there is something going on between you two! He looks at you like he's seeing the sun for the first time."

Maria laughed, "True, I've never seen Vince look that dopey, but I have caught him looking at you _affectionately."_ She said, the word tinged with a strange feeling like it and Vince shouldn't belong in the same sentence together.

Mia blushed again. "Fuck. You're more observant. It was _so_ much easier when it was just the boys. They are dense as bricks."

"Oh my god!!!" Maria and Christine shouted at the same time.

Mia laughed, "I guess we've been _dating_ for a while." She smiled, "I mean, he has always liked me and he's grown up quite a bit, even though he'd never let anyone else see that. He's always been kinda cute to me." She sighed, "I don't know. I let him take me out finally, after _years_ of resisting and hating him for being a self absorbed ass, and he showed me that he wasn't."

"How long?" Christine asked, her attention fully absorbed.

"Like, six months. We just started dating right before Maria came into the shop and flipped it all upside down. Thankfully you distracted Dom, cause he was getting curious." Mia smiled.

Maria's eyes widened, "You haven't told _Dom!?_"

Mia flinched, "No." She said weakly, but seemed to get a little more courage, "Its not his choice who I date." She growled. "I'm old enough to make competent decisions!"

Maria nodded, "I understand honey, but your big brother wont. Not when he finds out that his best friend is diddling his baby sister."

Mia shrugged, "Well we aren't exactly diddling." She said, rather regretfully, "I mean, he says he wants to but he has been crazy about me for so long he doesn't want to bone it up by sleeping with me too fast." She smiled a little, "He said he wants to do things right."

Christine and Maria laughed a little at the sappy look on Mia's face, "Well, at least you don't have to worry about Dom too much then. I mean he can't be mad at his best friend for _loving_ his sister. I mean it will be bad, _really_ bad, but not as catastrophic as if he caught you two, _you-know-ing_."

Mia laughed. "Yeah, that's precisely why we haven't told anyone. We wanted to keep it a secret until we could approach Dom when he wasn't in such a pissy mood. Now that you're around," She pointed to Maria, "we don't want to fuck up his good mood by him murdering Vince."

Maria laughed along with Mia, "Its probably best that you tell him though. The longer you go one with it the worse it will be. He won't like being lied to."

"You're tellin' me!" Mia sighed.

There was a good few minutes of silence while the girls drank their beers and devoured some pizza. Maria lit up another cigarette.

"So." Mia said, playing with a napkin, "Are you gonna marry my brother?"

Maria choked on her beer, "What?"

Mia shrugged, "You know, marry him?"

She looked at Christine, who was simply waiting for an answer, "Umm, he hasn't asked me. I – I don't think I can answer that until he asks me." She said nervously.

Mia nodded solemnly, "Ok."

"Wh – why?" Maria said gaping at Mia.

"Just curious." She said distractedly.

"Mia, do you _know_ something that I don't?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure we're all hoping he does really soon." She said softly.

"Why?" Maria said back.

She shrugged and sipped her beer, "I mean you obviously don't _see_ the effect you have on him cause you didn't know him before. But its like you've brought back an old Dom. The one I grew up with who was funny and relaxed and unguarded. When he came back from prison he was a totally different person and it was hard to be around him for a while. He lost all his charm. I mean he could charm the pants off of plenty of girls, but it was just a means to an end – and half of them started with their pants unzipped just in case – but his real personality was gone. When you came into his life its like he got that back."

Maria blushed now and she truly didn't know what to say.

"I know Mia can't say this, but I know it. I know you better than anyone, even _him_, and he's changed you too. I remember seeing you and thinking you had one foot in hell and the other on the edge of a cliff. You looked horrible – I mean you are pretty but you looked bad for you, too skinny, paler, you smiled, but it was so guarded – Now its like you are glowing all the time. You smile constantly and it lights up the room. Its almost obnoxious how happy you look."

"Sickening, really." Mia smiled.

Maria tried not to, but failed. "I don't know what to say. I mean, I love him. Luca loves him. _You_ even like him." She pointed at Christine who laughed, "I don't know what to do, I just know I don't want it to stop."

They all smiled and sat in their happy-female energy for a few more minutes until Mia's phone rang. She picked it up and held it to her ear smiling and trying to engage in some conversation but was having a hard time.

"Its Jesse, he wants to talk to you," Mia handed over the phone, "You may want to step outside of the patio and get away from the music. I was having a hard time hearing him."

Maria grabbed the phone and jogged out into the parking lot, thinking absently why Jesse would be calling and had a tiny flicker of fear that something had happened to Luca. When the music was fading, she put the phone to her ear.

"Hiya handsome!" She smiled, "How's it going? Is Luca ok?" She tried to keep the fear out of her voice.

There was a rustling on the other end and Maria frowned. She was about to ask if he could hear her when a voice came over the other end and she was momentarily relieved.

"We have him." A deep thick voice said, "And you're son."

Maria felt the world drop out from beneath her, "Wha – What?"

"We have Jesse and you're son."

Maria felt her throat close and she was finding it very hard to breathe.

"You have fifteen minutes to get to this address. Come alone or we'll kill the blonde kid."

"No!" She shouted into the phone, but the line was already dead.


	17. Chapter 17

I know i'm horrible for leaving you on the edge like that. But Keep reading and don't hate me!!!

* * *

-17-

Dom was sitting at home with the boys, watching some ridiculous new action flick where someone was poisoned and had to keep their heart rate up in order to live. He didn't really get it and the movie was poorly made, there were lots of good action sequences, but that was about it.

He checked his watch again and saw that Jesse and Luca had only been gone for a little while, but for some reason he was really agitated. It was probably because of the fact that he hadn't spent much time without either Maria or Luca by him lately and he felt like part of him was missing when they were gone.

He heard a car pull up outside and hoped it was Jesse and Luca with the food. Him, Vince, and Leon, were pretty starving and he was hoping that Jesse didn't drive too fast with the kid in the car, or else Maria would be slightly upset.

He laughed softly, remembering what happened to Vince, Leon and Jesse when she found out they were letting Luca steer the car while they shifted the gears and put on the gas. He hadn't seen a tongue lashing like that for years, if ever. He looked over the couch when the door opened and wasn't happy with what he was seeing.

"Is she here?" Mia said frantically, looking around the house.

"What?" Leon said, straightening up a little when Christine walked in and he smiled. Neither of the girls smiled back, both of them had strained looks of shock and horror on their faces. Their eyes wide and frantic.

"Maria! Is she here!?" Mia said, beginning to run through the house in search of her.

Dom was up in a second. He crossed over to Christine who was biting her lip so hard it looked like it was slightly bleeding, her hands were shaking. He grabbed them and shook her a little to get her to look up at him. Her eyes were full of tears.

"What's happening?" He asked, he couldn't keep the unease from his voice.

"She got up to take a phone call. It was Jesse." She said softly, her voice shaking too, "She was gone for like ten minutes so I went to go find her and she wasn't there." She sobbed quietly, "I called Mia's phone and no one answered. I called Jesse's phone and no one answered." She repeated herself a few more times, holding her eyes shut to keep the tears from spilling over.

Maria came running down the stairs, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Where is Luca?" She almost shouted.

Everyone was standing by now. Leon had his arms around Christine who was crying and Mia was starting to shake. Vince walked up to her and hugged her, trying to calm her down.

All the blood drained from his body when Dom suddenly realized he didn't have anybody. He looked over at Mia and Vince, he was telling her that Luca and Jesse just went out for food and Jesse probably dropped his cell phone and it broke. But Dom couldn't believe that. Three members of his family were missing; two of them were the main things that kept him tethered to this world. He felt his veins harden as if the remaining blood had, but his vision had gone red.

"What did Jesse say when he called?" He said, he voice was now even, only his hands were shaking slightly.

"He – he said that he needed to talk to Maria." Mia sniffled quietly into Vince's shoulder.

"And?"

"And it was loud, I couldn't hear anything specific. But I just handed it over to Maria and she went to the parking lot to talk to him. It was too loud. We went to the parking lot and tried to find her but we couldn't." Mia was sobbing now, her sentences running into one another and not making much sense.

"She left her purse," Christine said a little more calmly, "So she wasn't intending to leave. Something happened and I don't know if someone took her or if something else is going on. But we need to find them," Her voice broke, she finally looked up at Dom, "Please."

Dom nodded. He glanced at Vince and Leon who both had grim looks on their faces. Their eyes met for a few moments and he nodded to them both. In a flurry of movement, Vince and Leon had disappeared upstairs. He took Mia and Christine to the couch and sat them down.

"Mia, I need you to call Iyala and get a trace on Jesse's car. He has friends who can find out where it is. If they cant get something on his car, try his phone." Dom tossed her his cell phone and followed the boys up the stairs. They had pulled down a few boxes from the attic and were now opening them. Vince pulled out three nine-millimeter semi automatic handguns and tossed Dom and Leon one each. They loaded the pistols and tucked them into the bands at their waist, Leon's in front, Dom's at his back. Vince was still on the floor, he finished loading his nine-mil and started pushing shells into a pump-action shotgun.

Christine walked up and saw them all loading shells into their own shotguns. She stifled a scream and looked at Dom with a terrified expression.

"What are you going to do?" Her voice was uneven.

"We're getting them back." Dom said his voice had lowered a few octaves. He looked up at her and his eyes were cold and merciless – it sent a shiver down Christine's spine.

"How?" She said softly.

"I don't know yet and I don't care, but I _will_ get them back." He growled and walked past her, down the stairs in order to talk to Mia.

"Just in case…" Leon said shakily, he grabbed Christine and kissed her hard. Vince chuckled softly as he walked past them and when Leon let her go, her head was a bit lighter and her stomach had stopped burning with fear and started churning slightly.

Maria didn't remember much that had happened after the phone call. She remembered getting a cab and telling them the address but not much else. Her mind had been racing, her heart pounding furiously in her chest and she could barely stifle her sobs. More than once the cab driver had asked her if she were okay, but she couldn't bear to respond. She knew if she opened her mouth all that she'd be able to do is scream.

Once she got to the building she didn't recognize, it was ominously dark surrounding the place and it didn't seem to have any lights on inside. She was terrified, but she went up to the door and opened it anyway. Somewhere inside were Jesse and her son. She didn't want to think about what other monsters lay inside the black house.

Inside there was nothing but darkness and the last thing she remembers was the sharp pain at the back of her neck and then blacking out.

It was now incredibly bright behind her eyelids and she didn't want to open them. Grudgingly she opened her eyes slowly and noticed that it must be some type of office building or empty house. There were no windows in the room there was just a door in front of her. She felt dizzy and groggy from whatever happened before she got in there. It would have felt terribly cliché if she wasn't so absolutely terrified. For a second she thought she was alone, before she heard a groan behind her and then heard Luca screaming her name.

She sat up incredibly fast and ignored the head rush. She found Luca, running to her from the opposite corner and she wrapped her arms around him. Both of them were sobbing uncontrollably and holding onto each other tightly.

"Are you alright?" She said, pulling his face back and kissing his tear stained cheeks. He nodded and looked over his shoulder and Maria saw Jesse, lying in a heap on the floor. His entire face was bloodied and his wrists and ankles were tied.

Maria ran to his side and untied the ropes and lifted his head into her lap. She was happy to realize he was still breathing normally. She pulled off her black sweater and used it to wipe some of the blood from his face. Her entire body was shaking with fear, but she couldn't help feeling better knowing that Luca and Jesse were at least alive.

"Mo – mo – mommy?" Luca said, he was crying so hard he was shaking.

Maria wrapped her arms around him and laid Jesse back on the floor after a quick inspection to make sure nothing else was damaged. He had a few cuts on his forehead as well as a severely broken nose, which was the cause of the bleeding.

"I – i – is Juh – Juh – Jesse alive?" He was hiding his face in her neck.

"Yes baby." She said softly, "Its ok. I wont let them hurt you. I wont let them hurt Jesse anymore."

"Th – they tried to take me at the food place. They just showed up and grabbed me. Jesse tried to fight them off but they just beat him up. They were too big." He was crying hard again and Maria held him tightly.

Jesse stirred a little bit, "You forgot about how brave you were: kicking and fighting them. He almost got away from them he was so tough."

"Jesse!" Maria and Luca yelled at the same time. They both scrambled closer to him and Maria helped him sit up. He leaned against her, "Are you ok?" She said, tears coming down again.

He smiled weakly, clutching at his side, "Yeah, fit as a fiddle love." He looked over at Luca, "You're okay right?" and Luca nodded.

"What happened? Who has you?" She asked, "I guess, who has _us_ I mean."

He nodded and moved, flinching while he grasped his side, "Don't know. I've never seen'em before. They came out of no where and grabbed Luca so I went after them, but unfortunately it was three on one and I couldn't do much." He said weakly, "I'm so sorry."

Maria sobbed, "I don't care! As long as you both are ok!" She hugged them both tightly, "I'm just glad you're alive."

"For now." A voice said from the doorway.

Maria's heart stopped beating for what felt like an eternity. She turned herself towards the door and saw Tito, standing there, looking very much the same. He was dark and attractive. His almost black hair was greased back and his mustache was perfectly groomed. He was in a perfect-fit blue suit that probably cost more than Jesse's car. And he was _smiling_.

There was a blood-curdling scream and the next thing Maria remembered was being thrown to the ground by two large men. She skidded back a bit on her side and looked up at Tito. His suit was rumpled and his hair was slightly misplaced. He was in the process of pushing it back when he noticed his lip was bleeding. She was happy to know that she was the one that caused it.

He touched his lip and looked down, seeing blood on his fingertips. His eyes shot back up, full of fury, and he started growling.

"How does it feel on the other side?" She spat.

Before she realized what was happening, Tito kicked her in the stomach. It knocked all of the breath from her lungs and she rolled into a ball, coughing madly and gasping for air. She felt another kick at her side and fell over again, trying to get some purchase with her lungs.

There was another high growl and Maria looked up in time to see Luca jump at Tito and bang his fists against his sides. The kid was furious, thrashing his arms and kicking with everything he had.

"Luca, no!" She managed to gasp out. This caught Luca's attention for a moment and Tito flung him onto the floor.

Jesse was trying desperately to stand but he was having a lot of trouble. But now he was shouting, positively livid and hurling curses at Tito that Maria was pretty sure she'd never even heard before. Luca was on the ground scrabbling to get back up and Maria jumped for him and pulled him to her. She was still having a hard time breathing and it hurt immensely to inhale.

"Luca, its ok." She said soothingly, "Mommy is ok." She kissed his forehead and Tito was still standing there looking very smug. She glared up at him, shielding her son. "What do you want?"

"This, exactly." He smiled, "But his name isn't Luca, its Giuseppe after his grandfather."

"My name is Luca." Luca growled and glared up at Tito. "And he's not my grandfather. I don't have any grandparents. And my father is _dead_." He said the words with such disdain that it made Tito's two guards flinch.

Tito looked hurt. He glared down at Maria and two men filled in behind him, "YOU NEVER TOLD HIM ABOUT HIS FAMILY?!" He bellowed and spittle flew from his mouth. His face was screwed up with fury, a look that was very familiar to Maria. She knew what was going to happen so she threw Luca over to Jesse who caught him just as Tito grabbed Maria and pulled her up by her hair.

Luca screamed and tried to wriggle out of Jesse's arms but Jesse held on tight. The two men were glaring at him with pistols in their hands. He was horrified, knowing he had to hold onto Luca to keep him alive and sit there while he watched Tito lay into Maria.

He threw her up against the wall and she hit it with a solid thud. She turned herself around through, trying to keep the pain from showing and slid down the wall. He picked her up again and pinned her there, his one hand holding her hair painfully tight and the other caressing her face.

"Darling Domonique," He smiled, tracing her lips with his fingers. She did not react, but only stared him in the eyes, the look cold and furious, "How long I have waited to see you again." While still holding her hair he slapped her in the face, hard.

Maria literally saw stars while her cheek burned in a familiar handprint. She blinked a few times and looked back up at him, her face still blank.

His voice lowered and was soft and sweet, "Did you miss me love?"

A burning hatred rose up in Maria's chest and she glared at him and spat in his face. She knew it would only end up with more pain, but she didn't want him to have all the satisfaction.

That was when Luca started screaming again. She remembered being slapped in the face because she could still taste the blood but now all she could feel was the stabbing pains from the numerous kicks he had laid into her sides.

She was gasping for breath and she was down on all fours. Tito was speaking now. He was telling her how much he enjoyed finding her and seeing her fear at the water park, at the regular park, when she had the run in with Enzo. He was muttering away, growling and spitting at her, calling her horrible names, but she wasn't listening.

She looked over and Luca who was sobbing and screaming, clawing at Jesse to let him go. She smiled at Jesse softly, ignoring the vile things Tito was calling her, and thanking him silently for holding onto her son. If she had to die, so be it, but she could not live in a world without her son. He would be ok. He would survive tonight even if it was the last thing Maria did.

She looked at her son who had stopped screaming and was staring at her with tears streaming down his tiny face. He was shaking and reaching his arms out to her, grasping at the air and kicking his feet to get free. She smiled, "Luca, its ok. Don't watch honey. Mommy will be ok." She said with all of the strength left in her.

Tito growled and kicked at her again, "He _has_ to watch." He shouted. He rolled her onto her back and straddled her and punched her square in the face. It hurt more than the slaps and reverberated in her skull and she felt like her jaw may have unhinged. He was still on top of her, laughing and tearing at her clothes. Finally Maria woke up a little bit and realized what he was trying to do.

She screamed and finally started to fight back. She threw a few hard punches into his abdomen, which bent him double. She landed a hook into his jaw and it pushed him from being on top of her. She climbed up and started thrashing him with every ounce of strength she had left in her.

It didn't last very long because the men soon pulled her off of him. He stood up and with the men still holding her, landed a kick to the center of her chest. She was rocketed back into the wall and her head slammed against it. Her vision blurred and she tried desperately to focus. She looked over at Luca who was still shaking silently with tears. Maria wasn't sure if he wasn't making any noise or if she just damaged her brain and lost that sensory perception. She was hoping Tito would finish her soon and not make Luca suffer by watching his mother being beat to death.

She realized Tito was now saying something to his men. Maria was waiting for them to grab at her but they didn't. She saw them move towards Luca and she tried to stand up to go after them too but Tito was faster and put a gun in front of her face.

She looked up at him desperately and he smiled a slimy grin and winked at her. His face was not absent of the blood and cuts left from her hands and it gave her some vindictive satisfaction. She turned again, suddenly her hearing coming back as she heard Luca screaming again in protest. This time, he was trying to hold onto Jesse while the two men pulled him away. Between the grip Luca had and the fact that Jesse was not relinquishing him, the two goons had trouble getting the little seven-year-old boy.

"Damnit, you worthless fucks, he's seven for shit's sake!" Tito yelled over his shoulder, he was still staring down at Maria. "Break the kids fucking fingers, I don't care, just get him away from the blonde fucker!" He yelled. Maria screamed again and made a movement to stand up but Tito cocked his gun and pressed it to her forehead, "You wont even get a chance to help him. Tell the brat to let go or they'll break his arm."

Maria choked back a sob, "Luca let go honey. Please." She said, her voice breaking.

Jesse let go as well, glaring at the two large men and spitting on their shoes. One man kicked him in the face and sent him sprawling backwards, leaning most of his weight against the wall.

"Bring him here." Tito said and the goons pulled a wildly kicking Luca over to his side. "Listen Guido, stop kicking or I'll hit her again!" He shouted. Luca instantly stopped kicking. However he broke away from the goons and ran over to his mother, wrapping his arms around her and crying. She held him close despite the pain it caused and kissed his cheeks and told him not to cry. She told him that everything would be all right and she would get him out of here safely. She didn't care that the rest of them could hear here, she only cared that her son was in her arms again and he was ok.

"Let go." He growled, followed a moment later by the cocking of the hammer once more. Maria kissed Luca and pulled him back from her and smiled softly. She realized his face was smeared with the blood from her bleeding lips, nose, and forehead and he looked horrified. "Come here Guido." He demanded. Luca stepped away from his mother, shaking visibly, but probably not from fear – the boy had a serious fire behind his eyes.

Tito smiled and pushed him lightly over closer to Jesse. "Johnny." He nodded and the larger bearded man who pulled out a small handgun that almost looked like a child's toy in his large mitt. He handed it to Tito who looked at it affectionately.

There was an abrupt sound outside that Maria couldn't place, but her head was very cloudy and she wasn't thinking straight. She thought she had imagined it until Tito looked up at his two goons and nodded to them, grunting towards the door. They left and he stared back at Luca, holding up the shining silvery gun.

"This is a Smith and Wesson .38 semiautomatic handgun Guido. It's perfect for smaller people who are looking for something with stopping power but cant handle something big like a .45." He smiled and looked lovingly down at his son and held out the gun to him.

Maria whimpered and made a movement to get up, but Tito just pressed the barrel of his gun harder into her forehead.

"This was the gun I used to make my first kill," He said adoringly, as if he were remembering how he first learned to ride a bike. "All they told me was point and shoot. I don't even know what the guy did." He laughed and turned back to his son who was staring at the gun with wide horrified eyes. "Take it." Tito said calmly, holding it out to Luca.

Luca shook his head and stepped back.

"TAKE IT!" Tito roared, thrusting the gun at his son. Maria screamed, but he kicked at her and she lost her breath again.

Luca reached out and held the gun in his hand like a dead fish. Tito held up his hand, showing Luca his grip and told Luca to hold it like a man. Luca adjusted his small hands and glared at Tito.

"Shoot him." He smiled.

The anger dropped from Luca's eyes as they moved to Jesse who was still sitting against the wall, his breathing labored and clutching his side. "I – I – I c-c-cant." Luca said, tears starting to fall again.

"Shoot him," Tito said, his voice level and serious, he raised the gun up again and pointed it at Maria, "Or I shoot your mother instead."

"No!" Luca and Jesse screamed at the same moment.

"Please don't do this to him he's only a child!" Maria screamed at Tito, "I'll do whatever you want, _anything_ just PLEASE leave him alone!" She cried, reaching out for Tito.

He smacked her in the face with the hand that held the gun. There was a large gash across Maria's cheek now that was bleeding freely but she didn't care. She was not about to watch her son murder his best friend. She tried to move, to stand but a gunshot rang out, deafening her for a moment.

She heard screaming but finally realized it wasn't her. Luca was telling Tito to stop. Tito had just shot out a chunk of wall as big as a grapefruit about three inches from Maria's head.

"Luca!" Jesse screamed. "You know what you have to do, ok?" He winked at Luca and smiled softly. He crawled over to him and hugged the little boy whispering something in his ear that sounded like "I love you." Luca nodded and started crying. Jesse leaned up against the wall again and closed his eyes.

Luca was crying hard, trying to control his muscles that were shaking furiously. He slowly raised the gun and took aim.

Tito looked back at Maria and smiled, "Say goodbye, sweetheart."

Maria looked over at her son who was holding the gun level with Jesse who was bracing himself for death. She wanted very much to reach out to him, but every time she moved, Tito poked her again with the barrel of the gun. She watched the muscles in her son's arm as they flexed, sending tiny signals down to flex his finger. Those signals knew nothing of the pain and suffering they would unleash. For a moment she feared that her son would be so devastated his soul would be ripped from his body and he'd become lifeless, tortured, and perhaps as crazy as his father.

There was a moment when everything seemed to happen at once. It felt like every molecule of air had been sucked from the room in an instant. There was no sound, no movement, no heat, only the blinding flash from the barrel of the gun and the unmistakable thundering of the world crumbling before her. Maria's sob was noiseless in comparison to the sound of the bullets tearing through flesh.


	18. Chapter 18

I know, I'm the antichrist for that cliff hanger…I was going to be even MEANER and actually wait another day before posting this, but I finished it tonight and I decided that I will be nice and not torture my fantastic, wonderful readers much further!! Its also about 1 am for me and I was at work at about 6 am the previous morning so there may be some typos. If you see anything that doesn't make sense point it out and I'll fix it tomorrow!!! Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad the story is going so well – I'm surprising myself! 3

-18-

Dom and Vince had disarmed the two men who came to inspect the noise. It wasn't very hard because they seemed to be inexperienced, if not just plain stupid. He hadn't actually killed a man before, but he had no qualms about breaking the fat one's neck in order to keep him out of the way. Vince had taken it upon himself to shoot the other one in the head, with his homemade silencer.

He was surprised that the tiny office building was not better guarded. Leon, Vince and himself found it very easy to sneak in and he didn't expect to only encounter those two.

They split up searching the building. It wasn't very large, but there seemed to be a lot of empty rooms on all four of the floors. Vince took the first, Leon the second, and Dom the third. He was making his way through the dark offices, listening for some sort of hint of inhabitance when he heard it.

The deafening boom of a pistol fired directly above him.

His heart tried to leap out of his chest while he sprinted towards the stairs and made his way up, taking three at a time. He was carrying the shotgun in one hand and the pistol in the other trying desperately to keep his hands from crunching the metal in his grasp.

His blood was pumping furiously, burning through his veins as he made it past the top steps. He rounded the staircase and saw the door at the other end with a light coming from under the jamb. He ran towards it and kicked the door in, sending wood splinters flying in every direction. He raised both guns and pointed into the room preparing to kill anything that was moving.

Rather than try to escape, his heart deemed it easier to simply stop.

His arms fell to his sides, the guns slipping from his fingers and clattering to the ground. Before him stood Luca, his hands wrapped around a small gun that still seemed far to large to be in his hands, the barrel smoking.

An instant later Maria came into the picture, she was bleeding all over and her clothes were torn to shreds. She didn't seem to notice him standing there. No one did.

She wrenched the gun from her son's hands and flung it across the room. She was sobbing wilding while her son was pale and silent in her arms.

Dom unglued his eyes from them for a moment and saw Jesse slumped in the corner, bleeding heavily. His voice caught in his chest as his eyes slid along the wall and saw him.

Tito was crumpled against the wall with five bullets buried in the center of his chest. His face was sheen with sweat and blood was dripping from his mouth. His eyes were unfocused; gazing off to the side and Dom suddenly realized he was dead.

His attention was drawn back to Maria, calling his name frantically. He dropped to his knees and crawled over to her. He pulled them both into his arms and held them tighter than he thought was possible. He wanted very much to have them melt into his chest and just stay there, always. He listened as both of them cried in his arms, howling with pain and terror mixed with relief. He looked over at Jesse whose head was drooping slowly.

"VINCE! LEON!" He bellowed, it seemed to echo in the silence.

A second later they barreled through the door and took in the scene. Their eyes widened at the sight and they both ran towards Jesse. They picked him up slowly, a hiss slid through his teeth and he grimaced.

"What punk? You hurting?" Vince smiled at Jesse.

Jesse scowled back as best he could, "Yeah I'm fuckin' hurting. Do you _see_ my face asshole?"

Vince chuckled, "A few scrapes and a broken nose?"

"Pussy." Leon smiled hooking one of Jesse's arms over his shoulder while Vince held up the other side.

"Fuck you, I got some broken ribs too probably." Jesse spat and they carried him closer to Dom and Maria.

Dom was holding Luca in one arm and supporting Maria in the other, his big arms pulling both of them up. Maria was shaking uncontrollably and Luca was still in shock.

"Let me take him." She said softly, pushing slowly away from Dom. She lifted her arms out for him and let out a strangled cry. Dom scooped her back into his body and held her there.

"I promise you, you can hold him for the rest of your life, but we need to get you all to the hospital first." He said quietly. He looked up at the other three. "Leon, carry Jesse down to my car."

They made their way slowly out of the building, luckily, the area was abandoned and there weren't any observers. Dom packed Jesse into the back seat of his truck and slid Maria and Luca in the front seat. He closed the doors and turned to Leon and Vince.

"Take care of this." He growled.

They nodded, grabbed some supplies from the truck bed and turned back towards the building, unscrewing the tops of the large red canisters.

Dom had admitted all three of them into the emergency room and told the doctors it was from a car accident. He wasn't questioned and they prepared to take Maria and Jesse away.

Maria was laid down on the gurney and they tried to wheel her towards a room, but the catatonic Luca woke up with a fury. He started screaming and trying to get to Maria, who was shocked into a more aware state at the sound of her son's cries. She tried to sit up but the doctor tried to make her stay down.

She threw a surprisingly strong punch at him, knocking his glasses askew and blood spurted out from his nose. Dom carried Luca quickly to his mother who sat up despite the pain and wrapped her arms around him.

"Sh, sh, its ok honey." She said softly, stroking his hair and holding him. "They need to fix me up, but Dom will bring you in when I'm ok." Her voice was hoarse.

He simply nodded. He turned in her arms and reached for Dom who gladly took him back up and held him close. Dom leaned down and kissed her softly on her torn lips.

"I love you." He said, his voice thinning.

She smiled, her eyes fluttering softly as they closed, "I love you too." She turned towards the Doctor who was being plugged up by a few nurses and grimaced. "I don't think I can stay awake. Will you tell him I'm sorry?"

Dom smiled and nodded. Her eyes closed and the nurses wheeled her off.

Dom watched them take her away and he had an urgent need to rush after her and make sure she was still there. Luca was still in his arms, shaking softly with silent tears soaking through his shirt.

He walked over to the reception area and sat down, with Luca on his lap. The kid was still shaking so he wrapped his large arms around him and started rocking him.

A few minutes later, Vince and Leon strolled in smelling faintly of accelerant. They walked over, kissed Luca on the head and dropped into seats next to Dom.

"I called the girls. They're on their way." Vince grumbled, slumping in his seat.

Everyone looked so absolutely drained.

He glanced down at Luca, who he thought was asleep and noticed his eyes were wide and blank. Dom cleared his throat and pulled Luca away for a moment, trying to look in his eyes.

When he looked up, Dom was scared by what he saw. The bright and happy eyes of the carefree seven year old were gone and in their place the broken eyes of a ravaged soul remained. His lip was trembling as he stared at Dom.

"Hey bud." Dom smiled. Luca's lip trembled less and he just stared back at Dom. His heart was breaking watching the poor child struggle with what was happening to him.

"Hi." He responded, barely above a whisper.

"Mommy is gonna be ok." Dom smiled.

Luca nodded and closed his eyes, slowly shaking his head. Dom couldn't begin to understand what was going on his this tiny boy's mind. He had just watched his best friend beat, his mother tortured, and by his own hand, his genetic father, killed. He was only a child. His eyes dropped and Dom watched as silvery tears fell and made dots on his shirt.

"You know Luca," Dom finally said. Luca looked up at him with confusion written all over his distraught face. "I can only imagine what tonight was like. And thinking about it makes me more than furious," He growled, "But what you did…" He barely knew what to say.

Luca's eyes dropped again and he started crying. Dom pulled the boy into his chest and held him there for a long time. It wasn't at all silent in the waiting room, but Dom felt like the only thing that mattered were the tears of this broken little boy and the heartbeat down the hall.

When the sobs finally subsided, Luca looked up at Dom, but did not meet his gaze. He sniffled loudly and his face screwed up in pain, "D-d-do you not _want_ us anymore? B-b-because of what I did?"

Dom was shocked into silence for a few seconds, which only fueled Luca's sobs. He grabbed his small shoulders in his large hands and shook him softly. He grabbed Luca's chin and made him look him in the eye, "You listen to me Luca," he said seriously, "What you did tonight was beyond brave! You _saved_ not only Jesse's life, but your own and your mother's. Do you have any idea how much you two mean to me? You protected my family when I couldn't, Luca. You're much more of a man that _he_ would ever have been. I wish you didn't have to hurt because of him, but its okay that you do. You're human, Luca. You're _seven_ and you've dealt with more pain and suffering than most people in this world deal with in a lifetime. It may hurt for a while, the pain of…" Dom's throat did not want to continue but he knew he had to, "killing him, your father, but you shouldn't feel guilty about it." He said softly.

"I don't." Luca growled, "I hate him. He was going to kill my mom and kill Jesse and turn me into something like him. I hate him and I'm glad he's dead."

Dom looked at him seriously, "I understand. But you need to let that hatred go. He doesn't deserve it. You did what you needed to do in order to protect yourself, to protect your mother. You've given me back everything I've ever loved in this world and I owe you for the rest of my life."

There was silence.

"So you'll keep us?" Luca sniffled.

"Forever." Dom said, pulling the boy back into his chest and cradling him there. He started to rock back and forth and he felt Luca go slack in his arms and fall into a heavy sleep.

The girls finally arrived and rather than cause a commotion, they entered, saw Luca in Dom's arms and simply took a seat, waiting until they could see Maria. They all sat in silence. Dom noticed that Mia and Christine were holding hands with one another and their outside hands were linked with Vince and Leon. He smiled, eyeing Leon who blushed a little and Vince who tried to ignore his gaze.

He tried to force everything that had happened into his head and make some sense into it, but it just wasn't working. A few hours ago he thought that his life was over. He thought he had lost the most important thing in to him. It suddenly pushed everything into perspective.

He looked around and saw Christine and Leon, holding hands and watching the TV; Mia was curled up into Vince's side, asleep, his arm around her and his eyes gazing down at her in a soft way that Dom had never seen before; he had his arms, wrapped around the son he had always wanted and everything seemed complete. He leaned back his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

_This is what a family looks like._ He thought absently and drifted off to sleep.

What felt like a few seconds was really a few hours. The nurses came out and let them know that Jesse and Maria were ready for visitors. Jesse had a few fractured ribs, a broken nose, and numerous scrapes and bruises all over, but he was doing fine. He was slightly sedated and the nurses warned everyone that he was acting a bit funny.

"Nah he always acts like that." Leon laughed gruffly. The nurses said Maria was still asleep, but that when she woke up, they'd be welcome to go visit her.

They got into the hospital room and Jesse looked like he went a few rounds with a meat grinder. His nose was taped up and bruises flowered over his light skin in too many places, yet he was still smiling. Everyone piled into the room giving him light hugs and kisses on the cheeks. They spent a few minutes shooting the shit and keeping things amusing by trying to pretend he was in a coma for a whole year.

"Shut it," Jesse laughed and then grimaced. "Shit that hurts. Er, I mean, man that hurts. Sorry Luca."

Luca just smiled, "No problem Jesse."

"So uh guys?" Jesse looked around. "Can I have a few moments with Dom and Luca?"

"Sure thing." Vince nodded. Mia kissed Jesse on the forehead, Christine gave him a wink, and Leon punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"See you." Leon winked and walked out with the rest of them.

"How's it going little man?" Jesse said, raising his arm as high as he could to let Luca give him a high five.

"Ok." Luca shrugged.

Jesse nodded, "So if you ever wanna talk, I'm here for you ok?" He reached out his fist.

Luca touched his knuckles to his, "Deal."

Jesse winked and then turned his attention towards Dom. "She's alright?"

"Yeah." Dom said softly. "They said she sustained some pretty bad injuries, but nothing life threatening. Look," He muttered, having trouble swallowing, "I wanna thank you. For protecting them when I couldn't."

Jesse just beamed, "Hey they're my family just as much as yours." Dom chuckled. "And if you don't get a move on and snatch them up, I'm gonna. She'll be _my_ wife and he'll be _my_ son."

They all let out a comfortable laugh at that. Dom looked down at Luca, "So how about it? Who do you want as your dad, me or him?"

Luca looked thoughtfully at both of them for a few minutes, "Well mommy likes you, but _I_ think that I look more like Jesse, so he might pull it off better."

Jesse couldn't help but let out a huge guffaw at that. Dom scooped Luca up in his arms and tickled him, throwing him over his shoulder and laughing, "Fine say goodbye to daddy, he needs his rest. We'll check on your mom to see how she's doing and see if we can visit."

"Bye dad!" Luca said over Dom's shoulder, making him and Jesse laugh.

Outside Jesse's room he noticed that no one else was in the waiting room. He walked up to the nurse he saw before and asked where they had gone.

"Oh, I came out to let them all know that Maria had woken up and they could go see her. I didn't realize you weren't with them." Though the look on her face gave the impression that she realized she must be blind not to notice him.

"No problem. What room?"

"Nine-twenty-two."

He nodded and Luca and him power walked in that direction.

When they entered everyone was surrounding the bed. Christine was laying in it her arms wrapped around Maria and sobbing quietly. Everyone else seemed to be coping ok and was standing around talking to her like nothing was wrong.

Maria smiled when they entered. Her eyes looked slightly glassy but she was still very obviously happy to see them. Her entire face was either bruised, cut, swollen or a combination of the three but Dom realized that she was still amazingly beautiful.

"I need food." Mia poked Vince. He grumbled his assent and slapped Leon in the arm.

"Yeah, lets get you something to eat Christine." He smiled and took her hand sweetly.

"Ok," She nodded. She kissed Maria's cheek, "I love you and I'm so glad you're ok."

Maria smiled back, squeezing her free hand, "I love you too. Thanks for lookin' out."

"Always." Christine smiled and winked.

They all left the room and Luca ran up to the bed and climbed in. Maria wrapped her arms around him and he nuzzled close into her and fell asleep almost instantly.

She looked down and smiled, glancing back up at Dom, "How is he?" She gulped, thinking about the night's events.

He nodded and pulled up a chair, next to her hospital bed, "Surprisingly fine. He's just happy that you and Jesse are ok."

"He saved our lives." She said softly, running her fingers through his blonde curls.

"He saved my everything." Dom said softly. He reached out his hand and took her tiny fingers into his. He lifted them to his lips and kissed each individual one. "I can't tell you how terrified I was tonight. I was scared I'd never see you again."

She nodded, "I know. Me too."

He looked up at her, trying to catch her eye, "I love you."

Her head whipped around and stared at him, "I love you too." She smiled. She gulped back something painful and her eyes dropped again, "Is he -?"

Dom nodded.

"Thank god." She whispered and kissed her son's forehead. "I don't know what to do."

He nodded again. He wasn't sure either, "I think we just need to take this in strides. As of right now, I'm far too happy that all of you are alive to care about anything else. I'm pretty sure Luca feels the same way too."

Maria nodded, biting her lips softly. Dom reached up and touched her lip softly, "Don't do that babe." He smiled. A tiny tear escaped from her eye and landed on his thumb. He stroked her cheek softly and she leaned her face into his palm.

"I wish I could feel that." She smiled.

Dom laughed, "Are you tired?" She nodded. "Ok. I'll get the nurses to bring in a bed or two so Luca and I can stay the night. I'll get someone to bring us clothes tomorrow. They say when you can be let out, yet?"

Maria's features were getting a bit fuzzy, "Umm, I actually haven't talked to the doctor just yet. The nurse came in to ask me if I wanted visitors and that was about it." She yawned, and then grimaced.

"Alright, I'll go find him and figure out what's going on and see if we can get some beds in here." He smiled and stood. He reached for Luca but she shook her sleepy head.

"He can stay here. He's not disrupting anything. You can move him when there's another bed for him." She smiled.

He simply nodded and pushed some hair out of her face. "I love you."

"You too." She muttered quietly before falling back asleep.

Dom smiled and watched the both of them for a few minutes. He all of the sudden felt like he hadn't slept in days and his body was ceasing to work. He realized that he needed to get the cot in here quick if he didn't want to end up sleeping in the overly small chair or the freezing tile floor.

He forced himself to his feet and stretched his muscles out. He walked back out into the waiting room and found the crew there waiting. Their heads perked up attentively when he walked down the hall.

"They're doing great. Go ahead and go home guys. I'm gonna stay here tonight, and maybe more depending on how long she needs to be here." He smiled.

"I'll bring a bag for you tomorrow." Christine said wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you." She whispered and kissed his cheek.

Not knowing what to say he simply smiled a little foolishly. The others all hugged him and turned out with promises of visiting tomorrow. Once everyone had left, he found the nurse and asked her for a cot for Maria's room. She smiled at him and nodded her assent.

He looked at her skeptically, "Don't I have to be her husband or something? I thought I'd be getting kicked out by now?" He smiled.

She looked back up at him, her eyes round and piercing, "Don't worry about it Mr. Toretto." She smiled.

"You know me?"

She nodded, "I'm a very good friend of Iyala. He told me to do my best and take care of you."

He shrugged and smiled, "Well I appreciate it. Thanks."

"My pleasure." She smiled sweetly. "Oh and just a moment, the doctor would like to speak to you – erm, by the way, you're supposed to _be_ her husband." She winked and walked away, tapping the doctor on the shoulder down the hall and pointing back in his direction.

The doctor nodded and finished up his conversation before making his way over to Dom. He was a shorter man, with a salt and pepper beard and white hair on his head. He was definitely older, but had a kind, round face. He was the kind of Doctor every person wish they had, he just exuded comfort. Dom also regretted to admit that he had the beginning of a solid black eye with his nose already taped up. The doctor reached out his hand and shook Dom's.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Toretto." He smiled.

"Yeah, she's uh, sorry about that. She felt really bad about it, you know. Sort of in a shocking place. She heard her son scream and lashed out." He said, weakly gesturing to the doctor's nose.

The doctor just smiled and chuckled softly, "No problem. You'd be surprised how many times Doctors get clocked on a regular basis."

Dom laughed, "So how is she?"

The doctor pulled out a chart and refreshed his memory, "She's doing well. She has a pretty rough couple of fractured ribs, but they will heal. Her nose is broken and she had that large gash on her face that needed about seventeen stitches. A sprained ankle, a jammed wrist, and quite a few rather nasty scrapes and bruises all over. However everything is pretty superficial, except for the ribs and the nose, but those should heal up fine with plenty of bed rest – the ribs will hurt like the dickens." He nodded and closed up the file, staring back up at Dom. "I think a few days should suffice with her staying here. We just want to keep her under observation and let her and the baby rest."

Dom nodded, "Well thanks Doctor. I appreciate it. Let me kn – wait…did you say _baby_?"

The doctor nodded, "Yeah, the baby is doing fine. She's about two months in and the nurses made sure the vitals were strong and its doing great!" He smiled, "We just want to keep her in bed for at least three days before we try to move her around. Just so neither of them is upset by too much movement. They should be fine to go home by Friday. Sound good?"

There was silence.

"Uh, Mr. Toretto?"

_The baby?_


	19. Chapter 19

I'm sorry it took me so long to update...I've been busy! I'm working on finishing this one up and I'll be starting another fic soon...Maybe a Pitch Black one...Anyone down for that??

* * *

-19-

Domonic stayed quiet for the next few days about the baby. Maria had been asleep for about 80% of the time, only waking up when she needed to pee, eat, and get her bandages changed which they did at various times to keep her from sleeping _too_ much. Luca had spent most of his time curled up at her side, asleep in her arms, or out and about with Leon, Vince, Mia, and Christine who visited everyday and took him to see Jesse.

Dom couldn't bear to leave her side. He felt like if he closed his eyes for too long she might disappear and he couldn't bear it – especially with his baby on the way.

He was constantly pulled out of reality by thoughts of the little stranger as well as Maria walking around the house with a rounded belly, pregnant and glowing. He remembered the feeling he had when the doctor had told him – multiple times – that Maria was pregnant. His ears started buzzing, his face felt flush, his stomach seemed to empty itself, and his eyes had the most peculiar sensation that someone was tickling them from the corners. His throat had swelled up and his heart started pumping furiously, and if not for the fact that Dom had never been allergic to anything in his life, he would have assumed that he had gone into anaphylactic shock. What he only seemed to realize about a second later was that he was finally, for the first time in his life, experiencing pure unadulterated happiness in its finest form.

He was terrified though of what Maria would think. They had talked about it briefly before, however, it seemed more like a joke or a distant idea than an actual plan for the future. He knew he didn't want anyone else in his life, the thought of her carrying his child, of being a father, made his heart practically explode with pride and happiness. He was just scared of what _she_ would think. The doctors hadn't made a big deal about it because one, they thought she knew and two, after such a traumatic accident, they didn't want to force too much worry on her. Now that Dom thought of it, what if she _did_ know and decided not to tell him? What if she didn't want it?

He felt emptiness in his heart that could only be compared to when he had lost his dad. It was devastating.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Dom looked up and smiled. Maria was awake and Luca was curled up at her side. "Morning beautiful." She chuckled softly at that. She was looking much better than she had before. The bruises, which were a deep shade of purple, were now a lighter greenish color. She could smile without flinching afterwards and she was eating much better.

"What are you thinking about?" She said softly, her hands drifting softly through her son's curly locks.

"Just a sec." He said softly. "I need to talk to you alone and I'm gonna go drop off Luca in Jesse's room." She looked a little scared, but he simply kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Don't worry, I'll be back in a sec."

Dom carried the sleeping Luca into Jesse's room, which was inhabited by not only Jesse but also a cute nurse who was talking to him as she checked his chart.

"You are looking a lot better Jesse," She smiled, "I think you'll be ready to go home soon with you're girlfriend."

Jesse chuckled, he did look much better, "Oh she's not my girlfriend," he smiled, "She's his girlfriend actually." He pointed at Dom.

When the nurse turned, she inhaled sharply staring up at Dom. She was small, a little taller than Maria and had a dark complexion with light eyes. He smiled timidly and nodded. "Hey Jess, can you watch Luca for a bit? I need to talk to Maria."

"Sure!" Jesse smiled, "Is it ok if I wake him up?"

Dom nodded and deposited the sleeping boy next to Jesse who curled him up in his arms and snuggled him close. Dom had never seen Jesse with kids before and he was surprised that he was so affectionate and gentle.

He wandered slowly back to Maria's room, which wasn't far away and walked in. He caught her sitting up, looking anxious. He smiled and watched her for a moment as she fidgeted in her bed and picked at the linens. He cleared his throat and her headshot up, she was smiling but it was weak.

"What do you want to talk about?" She said softly, Dom could sense the fear in her voice.

He sat down and took her hand in his and sighed, "I need to ask you something," He paused and looked at her, she wasn't smiling and she looked nervous, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

She stared at him in confusion, "Like what?"

He took a deep breath and looked at her. She didn't seem nervous like she was lying to him. She just seemed confused. "It was something the doctor had told me." She shook her head as if she didn't understand.

"Spit it out." She smiled, "You'll give yourself an aneurism."

"Well," He said softly and kissed her palm, since she still had an IV in, "He told me that you're pregnant."

She stared at him in wide mouthed shock, "I-I-I can't be." She said softly, "They told me I'd never be able to get pregnant again because of the damage T-," She paused, swallowing slowly as if to push bile back down, "Because of what's happened to me."

He nodded, "I know, but evidently they were wrong. I guess I have super sperm or something." He chuckled, but she was still slightly horror struck. Dom felt his heart slowly breaking. She didn't want the baby. She didn't want _his_ baby. "I just wanted…" He swallowed again, how could his throat possibly get tighter? "Are you unhappy?"

That's when she burst into tears and Dom felt his resolve crumble. His entire being seemed to rip at the seams, tearing himself apart from within. For the first time in a while, he felt insecure. He hated himself for not being good enough for her to be happy about this news and for not being the type of man she'd want to be with and raise a child with. He took her hand and kissed it softly and then placed it back on the bed. He wanted to break something, to tear the world apart and make it hurt as much as he did. He stood up sharply and Maria looked up at him, pausing her sobbing for a second. She caught the look on Dom's face and started crying harder.

"Wh-why are you angry?" She said softly through her tearing breaths.

He shook his head. He wanted to be numb, "Because, obviously, you are unhappy." He took a few steps back and felt himself grow colder.

"Stop it!" She screamed.

A nurse came running in and stopped at the sight. She stared up at Dom and stumbled back a few steps, "Excuse me sir you are going to have to leave if you are upsetting her."

He felt a growl rise in his chest. He wanted to grab the nurse and shake her senseless, but he'd never laid a hand on a woman before and he wasn't about to start now.

"Fine." He spat so vehemently that the nurse took another few steps backwards. He turned to walk out the door when Maria started crying even harder.

"No!" She said desperately, "Please don't leave!"

The nurse stared at her, "You want him to stay?" Maria nodded slowly and the nurse took her chance to bolt.

"Why?" Dom growled, not looking at her, because he knew if he did he would want to grab her and curl her up in his arms and never let go. He couldn't risk this kind of hurt ever again.

"Do you want to go?" She said softly. He didn't say anything, just stared at the floor, his back to her. "I mean, if you don't want to -," She whispered, "If you don't want us." She said reflexively. Her hands went to her abdomen and she put her fingers over the tiny bulge.

In that moment Dom felt unbearably confused, "What do you mean?"

She wouldn't look up at him, "If you don't want us." She said more resolutely, "I've raised a child by myself before, I can do it again."

Dom stared at her and his jaw was gaping, "Huh?"

She looked up at him, her eyes cold and her mouth in a firm line, "I've raised a child alone before. If you don't want it then you don't have to. I can do it alone!" She crossed her arms tightly across her chest, as if her insides were trying to tear themselves away from her.

Dom crossed the room in two large steps and Maria wouldn't look at him.

"Just leave then." She said softly, her eyes closing on their own accord. If she wouldn't look at him, there was a chance she could forget his face and maybe forget the burning hole starting to expand in her chest.

He climbed partially onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her, forgetting for a moment that she was still hurt, until she squeaked with pain. "Shit! I'm sorry!" He looked down at her and her brows were knitted in either extreme anger or pain.

"Look, this will all be a lot easier if you just leave. I don't need you." She gulped past those two words and looked down at the sheets again.

"You don't need me?" He said softly.

She could hear something in his voice, but she wasn't exactly sure what it was, "No." Her voice betrayed her and it cracked. The tears would soon follow.

"Well tough fucking shit!" He growled. "You're having my baby and its gonna have a father whose there spoiling the hell out of it. Along with several aunts and uncles who will be thrilled by its presence."

Maria looked up at him to see if he was mocking her but all she saw were his huge brown eyes, positively radiant with joy and starting to brim with tears. She smiled, "Really?"

"Hell yes!" He shouted and a two nurses came storming in, one was a larger beefier male nurse, however, his eyes bulged when he caught sight of Dom and he seemed to stumble back a bit.

"Um," the man said, "Is he bothering you?"

Maria smiled and stared at him in blissful confusion, "Huh?"

"I guess not." The female nurse smiled and grabbed the larger man and tugged him out of the room with her.

"You want me around?" She smiled. He nodded, "And Luca?"

He smiled, "And Luca."

"You're gonna need a husband now too." He said seriously.

She looked down at the sheets and sighed, "You think Jesse will ask me?"

Dom laughed and rolled his eyes, "I'll see if I can put in a good word for you. I'll let him know you're a great lay." She chucked her empty cup at his head and it bounced off. "Hey! That's a good recommendation!" He smiled.

"Dick." She grumbled, "So are you proposing to me or what?" She glared at him.

He smiled and pulled her hand to him, she felt him fumble with her fingers and when she got her hand back a ring was on her left finger, "I guess I am."

She stared up at him in shock, "I was kidding!" She gasped, staring at the beautiful ring.

"I'm not." He leaned down and kissed her softly, "I love you."

She stared at him again, her mouth moving wordlessly.

"Is that a yes?"

She whimpered softly. Her face, still a mixture of shock and absolute happiness. She nodded.

"Good." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead softly, "Everyone is going to be stoked."

"Christine will be pissed."

"Why?" Dom said, surprised.

"Because you didn't ask her first."

Dom laughed hysterically, "I think I can handle her."

Maria raised her eyebrows and stared at him skeptically, "You'd think that."


	20. Chapter 20

I just want everyone to know how much I appreciate everyone sticking around for my story. This was my first story I've ever written and published and it was really fun to have people there with me and giving me feedback on what they liked (or disliked) and encouraging me to keep writing. I'm sorry it took me forever, School started and I've been going crazy between that and work. Thanks a bunch again for all the support. And please look out because I'm HOPEFULLY going to start a new story now and get that up soon. Once again thanks to all, cant wait to get started again and I hope you guys look out for me in the future. Love ya!!!!

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-20-

Maria bent low to grab the toy that was on the ground. Her back spasmed slightly as she straightened up and she whimpered at the stabbing pain.

"Mom!" Luca shouted, "You shouldn't be doing that!" He ran over to her and walked her to a chair and sat her down. He started picking up the rest of the toys and putting them into the right places. He had grown so much in the past three years. He was ten now and he was so big, almost taller than Maria herself.

"Where's Alena?" She said softly, her head leaning back onto the chair.

Luca visibly shrugged and smiled, "Off with dad somewhere. Goofing off probably."

Maria just smiled, "You really don't have to do that Luca."

He just looked up at his mother and smiled, "I don't mind." He was still so beautiful to her and thankfully looked nothing like his dark and dangerous father – well the _real_ father at least.

Just then there was a rumbling downstairs of combined voices and footsteps and the squealing of a small girl. She stood up slowly and sauntered out of the playroom and started making her way down the stairs.

"How's the most beautiful woman in the world doing?" A deep voice rumbled.

"Oh, are you talking to me?" Maria laughed, "And not your daughter who has been stealing every minute of your attention."

At the sound of her voice, the two year old in Dom's arms wriggled out of his grasp and ran up the stairs screaming "momma!" until she reached her mother's leg and wrapped her arms around it.

Dom chuckled, "Well she looks like you, so I guess it works for both." He pulled himself up the stairs and kissed Maria on the lips. "How is my darling wife?"

"I feel like I'm going to burst." Her hands wrapped around a rather large bulge on her stomach and his hands instantly joined them. He knelt on the stairs and put his face to her belly and kissed it through the fabric. At that moment a tiny nudge knocked him in the nose and Maria started laughing.

"He kick you again?" Luca said coming out of the playroom and wrapping an arm around his very pregnant mother.

"He did." Dom smiled.

"Glad to see he knows whose the boss." Luca smiled and Dom shot him a faux-angry look.

"You may stand now." Maria said playfully, tapping him on the shoulder as if he were just knighted.

"Oh can I?" He laughed and stood his full height and pulled her close to him. "You are so very beautiful." He murmured into her lips and kissed her generously.

They heard a small giggle to their side and tried to ignore it until they heard Luca whisper something and a tiny angelic voice say, "Ewww!"

They turned their faces towards Luca who was holding Alena in his arms and they were snickering with each other, Luca looking very pleased.

"Brat." Dom growled and pulled Maria back into a kiss.

"Ok easy Lothario." Maria smiled and pushed him back a little. "People will be here soon and I need to get stuff ready."

"You aren't doing anything. You are far too active for your own good." Dom smiled and kissed her bare shoulder.

"I'm booooored!" Maria squealed, "I need to do something and no one will let me move around for fear that I might topple over – I mean, they could be right, Alexander is _huge_ and that's _your_ fault!" She stabbed a finger into Dom's chest and he just laughed.

He helped her down the stairs and as they all reached the bottom step, Christine flew in through the doors, pulling Leon behind her.

"We're here!" She smiled and Leon did a complicated handshake with Dom and Luca and kissed little Alena on the cheek.

Christine wrapped her arms around Maria and kissed her wetly. She let go and consumed Luca in a huge embrace and he gladly squeezed her back. She took Alena into her arms and looked back over to Dom and Maria, "Food stuff in the car big boys. Go unload!"

Leon rolled his eyes, "You'd think I was a pack mule or some shit." He grumbled. Dom smacked him upside the head, "Don't curse in front of my kids. And you _are_ a pack mule, you didn't read chapter thirteen of the husband handbook, titled _if she says _jump_ you say _how high?" He laughed and pulled Leon out the door.

A few more car doors shut and Vince came in with Mia on his heels carrying a few very large platters covered in tin foil.

"I just _love_ thanksgiving, don't you!?" Mia smiled happily doing her rounds of kisses and hugs.

The girls ushered Maria into the living room and sat down on the couches while the men brought in the large volumes of food from the cars.

"Wow," Maria said, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys making the meal. I don't think I could have made it through preparing dinner. I sweat _constantly."_ She frowned.

"At least you don't smell _all_ the time!" Luca chimed in on his way into the kitchen holding a glass platter of candied yams. They heard the glass clatter onto the counter and a small _WHACK_ from Dom's hand connecting with the back of Luca's head.

"Don't be such a smartass." He growled.

"When's dinner ready!?" Christine yelled in a gruff voice.

"Yeah," Mia mock-spit and looked up at Vince, scratching her crotch, "I'm starvin'."

"Endearing." Leon growled.

"Yeah, real cute." Vince spat.

"Its ready now, we can get started." Dom smiled.

"Where's Jesse!?" Maria sounded frantic. Though everyone had moved out into their own places, they all still worked at the garage and occasionally went racing. Jesse was still slightly wild, still spending most of his nights partying away with friends from the racing community, but he managed to come over every single day, rain or shine, to hang out with Luca and play with Alena – giving Maria some much needed rest while Dom was at the shop.

"Right here ma'am." Jesse smiled, sauntering in through the front door with a bottle of wine. "I figure you're about to burst so I bought your favorite wine – you can have it once the monster's born."

Maria smiled brightly and watched as everyone bucked up and wandered into the kitchen, taking their seats around an old wooden table that still held memories of a bottle of Bacardi 151 and ten fingers.

When everyone was seated Dom said a small prayer and they all dug in. Maria watched silently, trying to keep her abnormal hormones under control and not burst into tears. Her son was sitting between Dom and Jesse with Alena on his lap, helping her eat. Vince and Mia were holding hands, and Vince's hand was resting lightly on top of the much smaller bulge in her stomach. Leon and Christine leaning into each other, whispering something funny and giggling while everyone was concerned with their food. But not Maria. Her eyes strayed to Domonic, who was sitting next to her and he smiled, softly, still very much enamored with her.

"Nice ain't it?" He cooed and kissed her ear softly.

"No nookie at the table!" Jesse growled and chucked a green bean at Dom's head. Luca and Alena started laughing hysterically. Maria was planning on telling them it's not polite to throw food and berating Jesse, but the green bean had latched onto Dom's skull and refused to fall off. She couldn't stop herself and she started to laugh hysterically while tears poured down her cheeks, everyone else soon joined in.

"I'm sorry!" She giggled, trying to contain it. Dom had a strange look of displeasure mixed with trying to hold back laughter. She cleared her throat and shook her finger at Jesse and the kids, "Throwing food is not polite!" She growled.

"Yes mommy." They all said in unison – including Jesse.

"I'll get you back for that." He growled at Jesse. He turned back to Maria, and kissed her on the shoulder, "And I got some plans for tonight."

Maria rolled her eyes and looked at him, she said in a soft voice, "If you put _anything_ in me I might rupture. Its not a good idea."

"You're so beautiful," He said in his deep, sexy voice, his hand trailing down the side of her face and against the soft skin of her neck.

Maria shivered slightly and felt as if something down there might be heating up but she just rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away, "Seriously, I might pop. Then what would you do?"

"Hope for another storm to bring in a cute blonde woman with a kid. That way she wont be so against taking care of mine too." He smiled. She pinched him hard on the leg and hoped it left a bruise. "Kidding!" He gasped and tried to slap her hand away, still rather gently.

Maria laughed and looked around again and watched as her family interacted. Everyone laughed and talked and smiled and it made her almost explode with joy.

"It's all cause of you, you know." He whispered in her ear.

"Actually its your fault you're such a slut." She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Ok, pass the stuffing, I'm _starving_." She smiled.

Dom reached over and grabbed the stuffing plate and handed it to Maria. She was working on her second spoonful when the metal spoon clattered to the floor and the bowl fell loudly on the table, making the stuffing jump inside of it.

"Are you okay?" Domonic sounded frantic. Maria looked flushed and her hands were on her stomach.

"Oh shit, my water just broke." She gasped, her teeth clenching as a contraction pulsed through her body.

"Huh?" Dom sat there, dumb struck. Even though it was his second time going through this process, he still wasn't exactly prepared.

"OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD!" Mia squealed and Vince jumped out of his seat. Jesse had practically thrown Dom out of the way to get to Maria.

"Contractions?" Jesse asked and Maria nodded. "Bad ones?" Maria nodded once again, slightly more frantic this time. "Ok people! The baby is on its way! Luca, get your mom her suitcase! Mia, Christine, Leon, Vince, get this place cleaned up because we are going to the hospital! Dom!" Jesse shouted, but Dom was scrambling on the floor to get up, "DOM! GET THE FRICKEN CAR STARTED!" With that, Dom stared at Jesse quite dumbfounded - actually everyone stared at Jesse, no one had ever seen him yell like that – but he snapped out of it fast and raced to the car.

Jesse helped Maria up, "These contractions are coming fast." She said softly, huffing. "I don't think this guy wants to wait any longer."

Dom had the SS Silverado running on the street with all the doors open. Jesse loaded Maria into the front seat while Luca climbed in the back with Alena and got her strapped in. Once everyone was secure Dom peeled out and everyone looked at him.

Jesse patted him on the back, "Hey man that was a great start off the line! You should do that at the races!"

"Hey!" Maria shouted and Dom and Jesse stopped talking about cars for a few seconds and stared back at her, "I have a child trying to shove his way out of my rather tiny body, can we focus here and try not to get in an accident!" She growled. They both nodded, while Luca giggled in the background.

They pulled up to the hospital a few minutes later and their dance soon began.

Maria lay there a few hours after Alexander's birth finally cleaned up but still feeling as if she'd been run over by a bus or two. She had the baby boy in her arms and he was happily nestled close to her, sleeping his first day away. Dom sat by the bed, silent tears streaming down his cheeks as he watched Maria and little Alex together. Luca and Alena were craned over her side and staring at the baby – Luca had already claimed "dibs" on him, which resulted in Alena demanding that she get a little sister.

Maria looked up at Dom and smiled, her own tears flowing as well. She couldn't ever remember when she had been happier in her life. She was very confident that _never_ was the answer and she was blown away by how her heart seemed to grow another part, one for Luca, one for Alena, one for Alex, and the rest for Dom.

"I can't believe it." He said softly, his hand tracing over the dark hair on top of Alexander's head.

"I know. He's perfect."

"Perfect." Luca said softly, a tear sliding down his cheek. "I have a brother," and Alena threw him a furious look, "Oh I still love you!" He said and hugged her tightly, "And now we have a baby brother! Look he's so great!"

"I love you." Dom said softly and kissed Maria, "I love you too." And he laid a kiss on top of Alexander's dark head.

"So this is what its like?" She said, stroking a finger down Alex's sleeping face.

"What?"

Maria smiled and looked up into Dom's gorgeous brown eyes, "Happiness. Perfection. _Life_."

"Yeah. This is how it's supposed to be." He said and pulled her face into his and kissed her with every ounce of strength he had left.

The End


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